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The Capital Evening Show with Jimmy Hill 7pm - 10pm
31 January 2022, 11:59
Nicola Coughlan reveals how she found out her Bridgerton character was Lady Whistledown
"I am just one real life human being and it’s really hard to take the weight of thousands of opinions on how you look being sent directly to you every day."
Bridgerton star Nicola Coughlan would like people to stop commenting on her body.
On Sunday (Jan 30), the talented Irish actress, who plays Penelope Featherington in the Netflix series, shared a selfie on Instagram pleading with her fans to keep their opinions about her figure to themselves. "Hello! So just a thing – if you have an opinion about my body please, please don’t share it with me," Nicola wrote.
"Most people are being nice and not trying to be offensive but I am just one real life human being and it’s really hard to take the weight of thousands of opinions on how you look being sent directly to you every day.
READ MORE: Bridgerton renewed for seasons 3 and 4 at Netflix
"If you have an opinion about me that’s ok, I understand I’m on TV and that people will have things to think and say but I beg you not to send it to me directly."
She concluded: "Anyways here’s a pic of me in my hotel in NY about to go to SNL, it’s unrelated to this post but delighted with my hair in it."
Sadly, this hasn't been the first time that Nicola has had to defend herself from comments about her body. Last year, Nicola addressed the negative commentary surrounding her appearance.
She tweeted: "Can we please stop asking women about their weight in interviews, especially when it's completely irrelevant. I’m seeing a lot of interviews from 10 years ago where people go 'Oh weren’t the questions so inappropriate!' unfortunately it’s still happening.
"Every time I’m asked about my body in an interview it makes me deeply uncomfortable and so sad I’m not just allowed to just talk about the job I do that I so love. It’s so reductive to women when we’re making great strides for diversity in the arts, but questions like that just pull us backwards."
She continued: "I mean this in the nicest way possible, I’m not a body positivity activist, I’m an actor. I would lose or gain weight if [it was] an important role requirement. My body is the tool I use to tell stories, not what I define myself by."