'Bridgerton' star Nicola Coughlan wants you to stop talking about her body

If you’ve watched a mere minute of either 2020 sensation Bridgerton or breakout hit Derry Girls (AKA one of the funniest shows to ever exist) you’ll be well aware of one thing: Nicola Coughlan is a damn star.

Her comic timing is inimitable and (spoiler alert) she also managed to pull off one of the greatest ‘whodunnit’ character arcs we’ve seen in ages. IYKYK.

But while we would have zero qualms about shooting the actress a quick DM to tell her how much we truly adore her work (and her makeup looks, TBH; girl’s got strong beauty game), we would never dream of messaging her our unsolicited thoughts on her body.

Why? Because it’s rude. Ridiculously rude. Regardless of whether your intentions are good and whether you think it’s a compliment or not. It’s just not necessary and she definitely didn’t ask for anyone’s opinions in this department.

And yet according to Coughlan, people do it. In fact, she just released a statement via social media confirming that she’s had more than enough of the commentary, especially when it comes to messages sent directly to her.

“Hello! So just a thing- if you have an opinion about my body please, please don’t share it with me,” she wrote in an Instagram caption. “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 ❤️ Anyways here’s a pic of me in my hotel in NY about to go to SNL, it’s unrelated to this post but delighted with my hair in it.” For the record, her hair did look fantastic; delight was the natural emotion to feel there.

Every so often we all need a reminder that celebrities are (apparently shockingly) still human. You wouldn’t (or at least we truly hope you wouldn’t) feel comfortable sending your assessment of anyone you know IRL’s body straight to their DMs, and the fact that someone is a public figure really shouldn’t change that.

So, whether you think a ‘thanks for representing my body type onscreen’ style message is entirely positive, or ‘you’ve lost weight’ feels like a straight-up compliment to you, let’s all try and remember that you never know how comments can affect people, regardless of intention.

In Coughlan’s case, it’s now a crystal clear no-go, and we have nothing but the utmost respect for her for setting that boundary.

Main image credit: @nicolacoughlan

Coughlan isn't the only one that's addressed the issue; Lili Reinhart also opened up about her own journey with body image...