Nicola Coughlan says ‘Bridgerton’ nude scene was a “fuck you” to trolls

Bridgerton star Nicola Coughlan has said her nude scene in season three of the Netflix series was a “fuck you” to the online trolls who body shame her.

• READ MORE: ‘Bridgerton’ season three review: still sweet and seductive but the taste is growing stale

In a recent interview with the LA Times, she explained how shooting her sex scene with co-star Luke Newton eventually felt liberating, despite her initial nerves.

“By the end of the day, we were both lying under a blanket, not clothed, just chillin’. We were like, ‘This is why nudists do it,'” she said.

Now, in a new a profile published by Stylist, she’s revealed that she was adamant about going “very naked” for the scene as a direct response to the online trolls who criticised her weight.

Coughlan, who collaborated closely with Bridgerton intimacy coordinator Lizzy Talbot on her sex scenes, said: “You go, ‘Ok, what do I want to show? What don’t I want to show? What’s scripted, and what do I want to add?’

“I specifically asked for certain lines and moments to be included,” Coughlan continued. “There’s one scene where I’m very naked on camera, and that was my idea, my choice. It just felt like the biggest ‘fuck 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 fucking hot I looked!’”

Coughlan has spoken out against online trolls in the past. Calling them out directly in a 2022 Instagram post, she wrote: “If you have an opinion about my body please, please don’t share it with me… It’s really hard to take the weight of thousands of opinions on how you look being sent directly to you every day.”

She later told the Irish Times: “All I care about is the work. Bodies change, if I lose weight or gain weight or I do anything it’s no one’s business, all I care about is doing good acting and being judged on that.”

Coughlan and Newton step into the lead roles for season three as the new episodes focus on their character’s progression from friends to romantic partners.

In a three-star review of season three, NME wrote: “If you don’t have much of a sweet tooth, this still won’t be the show for you. But if you’re craving an early-summer pick-me-up, you’ll devour these warm and watchable episodes in one scrummy sitting.”

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