‘Bridgerton’ Star Nicola Coughlan Objects To Being Called A ‘Plus-Size Heroine’ After Revealing Scene

Nicola Coughlan pushed back the public’s obsession on her plus-size figure after being called “brave” for her revealing scenes after the season three release of Bridgerton. 

“Don’t call me brave. I have a cracking pair of b—-. There’s nothing brave about that, that’s actually just me showing them off,” she said in a recent interview. 

“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,’” said Coughlan, who plays Penelope Featherington on the show.

Coughlan, 37, claimed she worked her “a— off” to deliver a successful season, explaining her frustration with viewers being so fixated on her looks. 

“I barely saw my family and friends, and people were just going, ‘But your body’ … I don’t take it as nice,” the actress said. “What if I was suddenly going to play a ballerina and lose a s— ton of weight, are you not going to like me anymore?”

While doing an interview back in May, Coughlan stated that she had “specifically asked for certain lines and moments” revolving around her nude scenes “to be included” in the show. 

“There’s one scene where I’m very [revealed] on camera, and that was my idea, my choice,” she recalled. “It just felt like the biggest ‘f— you’ to all the conversation surrounding my body; it was amazingly empowering.”

“I felt beautiful in the moment, and I thought: ‘When I’m 80, I want to look back on this and remember how f—ing hot I looked!'”

Coughlin has previously slammed fans for “body shaming” her online.