Bridgerton actress Nicola Coughlan took to social media this weekend to give an important statement on what’s appropriate and inappropriate for fans to be asking her.
The primary focus of her posts was to make sure fans know she isn’t comfortable with them coming to her directly to ask questions or make comments about her body and weight.
Nicola Coughlan: ‘If you have an opinion about my body please, please don’t share it with me’
The Netflix star shared a bathroom mirror selfie on Instagram with an important message for fans, whether they need to listen to her message or they relate to her message.
Coughlan began her post by getting right to the point and wrote, “Hello! So just a thing – if you have an opinion about my body please, please don’t share it with me.”
Before anyone could be upset with her words, she continued, “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.”
However, the star is aware of her celebrity status and how that impacts the amount of attention, questions, and messages she receives each day.
She continued by saying, “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 ended her Instagram post by saying that the photo is from her hotel room in New York before going on Saturday Night Live, “it’s unrelated to this post but delighted with my hair in it.”
Nicola Coughlan’s message on Instagram resonated with many of her fans, but unfortunately, it’s not the first time the star has had to make a statement about people asking her questions or making comments about her weight.
Nicola Coughlan wants to talk about her work, not her body
In March 2021, Coughlan took to Twitter to share a piece she wrote regarding comments she had received on her weight rather than her work in acting. She also voiced her thoughts and concerns in a Twitter thread.
In her op-ed, there is one particular critic who reviewed two plays she was in. The issue wasn’t that the critic was doing his job of being a critic, but rather he wasn’t focused on critiquing Coughlan’s acting, just her weight, and body.
She wrote the piece in 2018, but the topic still rings true today for herself and many other actors.
In her Twitter thread last March, she went into more depth regarding how outdated these conversations should be, yet they’re still happening.
The star noted that not only does it make her uncomfortable when these questions are asked, but it’s also “reductive” to the progress women are making for diversity within the arts.
Nicola Coughlan concluded that she “would really love to never be asked about in an interview again” and that she’s Irish “so I can talk till the cows come home.”
The actress’s request seems easy for many fans who would rather ask her about her time on the set of Bridgerton or what it was like filming Derry Girls.
Fans agree that it’s time to quit asking about actors’ and actresses’ bodies and weight and focused more on their abilities on the stage.