Nicola Coughlan has built a devoted fanbase thanks to her breakout role as Penelope Featherington — now Penelope Bridgerton — on Netflix’s global hit Bridgerton. But along with the success has come something far less glamorous: intense commentary about her body.
In a new interview with Elle UK, the 39-year-old actress spoke candidly about the body-shaming she faced during the early seasons of the series — and why she has no interest in becoming a spokesperson for body positivity.
“The thing I say sometimes that pisses people off is I have no interest in body positivity. When I was a kid growing up, I never thought about that. I didn’t look at actors and think about their bodies. So, I actually don’t care,” she said. “There’s a lot of things I’m passionate about, it’s not one of them… That’s someone else’s thing. It’s not mine.”
Coughlan explained that much of the conversation around her appearance has often overshadowed the work she puts into her craft as an actor.
When Bridgerton introduced more intimate scenes involving her character, the public commentary intensified — something she found both surprising and frustrating.
“You know what was really bizarre was, when I was shooting that series, I was exercising a lot because I knew I had to, so I had lost a bunch of weight – I was probably a size 10 and one of the corsets was a size 8. And then people talked about how I was plus size and I was like, ‘How f-cked are we that I am the biggest woman you want to see on screen?’” she said.
For Coughlan, the experience highlighted how quickly discussions about an actor’s performance can shift toward physical appearance.
“I remember this really drunk girl once talking to me in a bathroom being like, ‘I loved [Bridgerton] because of your body.’ And started talking about my body, and I was like, ‘I want to die. I hate this so much…’” she recalled.
“It’s really hard when you work on something for months and months of your life, you don’t see your family, you really dedicate yourself and then it comes down to what you look like – it’s so f-cking boring.”
The actress has previously spoken about wanting the focus around her work to remain on storytelling and character development rather than appearance.
Since premiering in 2020, Bridgerton has become one of Netflix’s biggest global hits, launching multiple seasons and spinoffs while turning several cast members into international stars.
For Coughlan, the role of Penelope has been a defining part of her career — and she continues to approach it with the same focus she’s always had: the work itself.
And if there’s one thing she hopes audiences remember, it’s that actors are more than the conversations that sometimes surround them.
