Highlights
- Nicola Coughlan says discussions about her size distract from her acting career
- Bridgerton star calls the focus on body positivity “boring” in a new interview
- Actor also reflects on how an ADHD diagnosis helped her better understand herself
Actor pushes back against focus on body image
Nicola Coughlan has said she has little interest in conversations around body positivity, describing the focus on her size as “boring” and a distraction from her work.
The Irish actor, known for playing Penelope Featherington in Bridgerton and Clare Devlin in Derry Girls, shared her views in an interview with Elle UK.
Coughlan said she had never grown up thinking about actors’ bodies and found the public debate around her own appearance uninteresting.
“There’s a lot of things I’m passionate about, it’s not one of them,” she said, adding that body positivity was something other people might care about, but it was not her focus.
Frustration over ‘plus-size’ label
Coughlan also questioned how she had come to be described as a “plus-size” actress.
While filming nude scenes for Bridgerton, she said she had been exercising regularly and had lost weight, describing herself as roughly a size 10 at the time, with one of the corsets used during filming being a size 8.
Despite this, she said the public conversation continued to frame her as a larger-bodied actor, something she found strange and frustrating.
Coughlan recalled feeling uncomfortable when a fan once approached her in a bathroom and began praising the show because of her body, saying the moment made her deeply uneasy.
For the actor, the bigger frustration is that months of work on a project often end up being overshadowed by commentary about appearance rather than performance.
Finding clarity after ADHD diagnosis
Elsewhere in the interview, Coughlan spoke about receiving an ADHD diagnosis and how it helped her better understand her own behaviour and thought patterns.
She said the diagnosis felt like finally receiving a guide to how her mind works, allowing her to approach herself with greater patience and understanding.
Alongside her role in Bridgerton, Coughlan has appeared in projects including the film Barbie and the Channel 4 series Big Mood, which earned her a BAFTA nomination. She has also performed on stage in productions such as The Playboy of the Western World at the National Theatre.
