Nicola Coughlan Asked To Be 'Very Naked' In Bridgerton Season 3 For Two Reasons
There's no better way to put a thumb in the eye of your critics than to show them you're not ashamed to be yourself. That's just what former "Derry Girls" star Nicola Coughlan aimed to do when she asked that she be frequently nude while playing former-wallflower-turned-belle-of-the-season Penelope Featherington during Season 3 of "Bridgerton."
The actress confirmed to Stylist that her goal was to both shut up people trying to fatshame her and leave behind a record of her form on film. "There's one scene where I'm very naked on camera, and that was my idea, my choice. It just felt like the biggest 'f*** you' to all the conversation surrounding my body; it was amazingly empowering," she told the magazine. "I felt beautiful in the moment, and I thought: 'When I'm 80, I want to look back on this and remember how f***** hot I looked!'"
The actress has previously been fearless in speaking out against negative comments about her shape. In a 2022 Instagram post, she asked fans not to share their opinions about her body with her. But when it comes to being nude around others, she got comfortable with co-star Luke Newton ... and had one clause put into her contract to make sure someone close to her never got to see her love scenes.
Luke Newton and Nicola Coughlan found their sex scenes liberating
As always, "Bridgerton" involves plenty of copious nudity and passionate love scenes between its couple of the season, and Penelope and Colin Bridgerton (Luke Newton) are apparently no exception. Nicola Coughlan told The Los Angeles Times that the key was getting comfortable with her co-star, and that she and Newton reached a level of camaraderie where their mutual on-set lack of clothing didn't matter. "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.
But while she and Newton managed to reach a level of accord with each other, there are two people Coughlan doesn't want to see her love scenes — her parents. In fact, it's in her contract with Netflix that alternate copies of her season be made with the sex scenes excised. "It's literally written into my contract. People think I'm saying it as a joke. I just don't want to ... We grew up Irish Catholic. That's just not how we vibe," she told SiriusXM Hits 1 (via The Independent).
While her parents will understandably be giving it a pass, everyone else can find out how Penelope and Colin make out in the altogether by watching the first half of the third season of "Bridgerton," which is now on Netflix.