“Bridgerton” Star Nicola Coughlan Has a Message for People With Opinions on Her Body

Irish actor Nicola Coughlan, known for portraying Penelope Featherington on Netflix’s hit series Bridgerton, is sharing an important message with fans.

On January 30, Nicola took to Instagram and Twitter to get candid with fans about receiving comments on her appearance and took the chance to put in a more than reasonable request. “Hello! So just a thing — if you have an opinion about my body, please, please don’t share it with me,” Coughlan’s post reads. “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. 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.”

Of course, ideally, Coughlan shouldn’t even have to request not to receive unsought commentary about her physical appearance — but the world isn’t quite there yet. Multiple women in the public eye often have to deal with an influx of remarks about their bodies at every move they make, more often than not camouflaged as “fashion critiques” or “health advice.” It’s a sentiment that stars like Lizzo, Adele, and Hailey Bieber have been vocal about, even if the narrative is predominantly used to make fatphobic judgments.

As noted by BuzzFeed recently, Yellowjackets actor Melanie Lynskey also took to social media to open up about an experience similar to Coughlan’s. Responding to a since-deleted body-shaming tweet, Lynskey wrote: “The story of my life since Yellowjackets premiered. Most egregious are the ‘I care about her health!!’ people… b*tch you don’t see me on my Peleton! You don’t see me running through the park with my child. Skinny does not always equal healthy.”

Let’s leave women and their bodies alone in 2022, shall we?