Nicola Coughlan, who as Penelope Featherington has rightfully seized the spotlight in the third season of the Netflix series Bridgerton, has deservedly garnered praise for her now-viral response to a remark made by a journalist.
When asked at a fan event about being "brave" enough to show her body in the series—a backhanded compliment that can easily be interpreted as a body-shaming comment—the 37-year-old Irish actress delivered a cheeky comeback befitting of a Featherington sibling.
“You know, it is hard because I think women with my body type—women with perfect breasts—we don’t get to see ourselves onscreen enough,” Nicola joked, drawing massive cheers from everyone in attendance. She added: “I’m very proud as a member of the perfect breasts community. I hope you enjoy seeing them.”
To that, we say: Bravo! Here’s a clip of her response:
Fans react to Nicola Coughlan clapback
It didn’t take long for the show’s fans to catch wind of this exchange, and a subreddit thread titled “Nicola Coughlan - PR Dream” has since been created to recap her standout moments from the ongoing Bridgerton press tour.
“She is smart, witty, educated, calculated, kind, and very interesting,” wrote one Redditor. “An easy listen, too. She [can] switch from being funny to being serious swiftly.”
Another user wrote: “[Nicola] is a great role model for the younger audience who watches the show and pay[s] attention to the press tour. Like you said, she’s educated, [and] she knows who she is and what she’s about.”
While her viral clip was the one that gained significant media attention, this is hardly the first time Nicola has had to address chatters about her body type.
Nicola Coughlan's body positivity statements
“There is so much discourse online about how I look, and I don’t think I could ever express how hard that is. It’s insulting because I worked hard on this show," she revealed in an earlier interview. "A year of fittings and dance lessons and shooting, I barely saw my family, I gave it my absolute all. And then I start doing press and all people want to talk about is my body? It’s so [expletive] disappointing and reductive.”
This super tired narrative on Nicola may not change overnight, but now that the world is seeing what she's capable of (both as an actress and an advocate for body positivity), perhaps people would know better than to reduce her to her looks next time. Keep at it, Lady Penelope!