Nicola Coughlan Says ‘Bridgerton’ Nude Scene Was ‘F–k You’ to Haters

Whereas filming Bridgerton’s third season, Nicola Coughlan had a particular request: extra nudity, please.

Coughlan, 37, who performs Penelope Featherton, a.ok.a. secret gossip columnist “Woman Whistledown” within the steamy Netflix sequence, instructed Stylist journal in an interview launched on Wednesday, Could 15, that she wished to be nude throughout a love scene with costar Luke Newton (Colin Bridgerton).

“I particularly requested for sure traces and moments to be included,” she defined. “There’s one scene the place I’m very bare on digital camera, and that was my thought, my selection.”

“It simply felt like the largest ‘f—ok you’ to all of the dialog surrounding my physique; it was amazingly empowering,” she mentioned, including, “I felt lovely within the second, and I assumed: ‘After I’m 80, I wish to look again on this and bear in mind how f—king scorching I appeared!’”

Associated: Every part to Know So Far About ‘Bridgerton’ Season 3

Following Anthony and Kate’s epic gradual burn romance on season 2 of Bridgerton, Colin and Penelope are actually subsequent in line. Based on the Julia Quinn books that impressed the hit Netflix sequence, the second eldest Bridgerton brother could be up subsequent, however in Could 2022, Nicola Coughlan confirmed that the romance within the fourth […]

Lately, Coughlan revealed to The Los Angeles Occasions that she had been nervous to movie a intercourse scene — her first-ever — that required her to put on a strapless thong. When she tried it on, “I went to the lavatory and appeared within the full-length mirror,” she recalled. “I used to be like, ‘Completely not.’ I hid it down the underside of the laundry basket. I used to be like, ‘How am I going to do that?’”

The expertise proved simpler than she thought it could be. “By the top of the day, we have been each mendacity below a blanket, not clothed, simply chillin.’ We have been like, ‘This is the reason nudists do it.’”

The romance between Penelope and Colin options prominently in Bridgerton season 3, which begins streaming Thursday, Could 16. In earlier seasons, Coughlan’s character had harbored an unrequited crush on the youthful son of the Bridgerton household.

Bridgerton’s new showrunner, Jess Brownell, has defined the rationale behind the choice to concentrate on the duo this time round.

“I actually really feel prefer it’s Colin and Penelope’s time. As a result of we’ve been watching each of those actors on our screens since Season 1, we’ve already invested in them a bit bit. We all know who they’re as folks,” she mentioned in 2022. “I really feel like, particularly within the final season, there are these moments of stress between them the place it’s like, Colin walks as much as the road of just about realizing that Penelope has emotions for him however doesn’t fairly get there. As a substitute of treading water on that dynamic, we wished to push it into their season. It actually felt like the proper second to tee it up.” 

Coughlan, who beforehand starred within the British sitcom Derry Ladies, was up for the problem of main a romantic storyline.

“With Penelope this season, it felt like there have been so many issues that have been mirrored in actual life,” she instructed the L.A. Occasions. “The entire theme of her stepping out of the shadows and into the sunshine, and never feeling fairly prepared — I felt like I had to try this.”

She added, “It was actually difficult. It was terrifying. It was cathartic. It was one million and one issues. I beloved it.”