‘Reductive and boring:’ ‘Bridgerton’s Nicola Coughlan doesn’t want to be a ‘plus-size heroine’

Nicola Coughlan is a rising star and doesn’t want to be reduced to just her body type.

Coughlan appeared nude in a scene for season 3 of Bridgerton this year, and she discussed that decision with Time magazine in a fascinating recent interview. People called her “brave,” and she really didn’t like that. “Don’t call me brave. I have a cracking pair of boobs. There’s nothing brave about that, that’s actually just me showing them off,” she said.

She also wants people to be careful about how they present her image. “I’m a few sizes below the average size of a woman in the U.K. and I’m seen as a ‘plus-size heroine,’” she said, before continuing, “I worked my arse off for that show. I barely saw my family and friends, and people were just going, ‘But your body …’”

Coughlan has always been determined that she’s never seen as just “the fat girl.” That issue reared its head in 2021 when a Twitter/X user called her “the fat girl from Bridgerton” in a tweet about the black cardigan she wore to the Golden Globes. It seemingly wasn’t meant insultingly, but Coughlan was understandably offended. She responded, “I thought the cardigan looked ace, Molly Goddard used them on her runway with the dresses that’s where the idea came from, also I have a name.”

After that, she posted a 2018 interview she did with The Guardian where she spoke about her body. A theater critic had called her “a fat girl” in a review of her show Jess and Joe Forever, and Coughlan found it “hurtful, and not only in the obvious way. Those were the only words he could think of to describe the work I’d done.” She concluded the article with, “I hope in the future that more people will talk about our work, our inspirations, our drive, rather than our looks. A revolution is happening, and I want to play my part in it.”

She’s right, of course. It’s a shame that everyone seems to see Coughlan as “plus-sized” first, actress second. She’s extremely talented, and I for one can’t wait to see what she does next. (She’ll be showing up in Doctor Who over Christmas, hooray!) It’s also refreshing to see an actress determinedly stand up for what she believes in. The Time article mentioned the work she’s done fundraising for the people of Gaza, which she’s very passionate about.

Coughlan explained that she didn’t find any comments on her body “nice,” whether or not they were meant as compliments. “Making it about how I look is reductive and boring. What if I was suddenly going to play a ballerina and lose a s**t ton of weight, are you not going to like me anymore? That’s insane and so insulting,” she concluded.