“It’s really hard to take the weight of thousands of opinions on how you look being sent directly to you every day.”
Nicola Coughlan has had enough with people’s focus on her body.
The “Bridgerton” actress took to both Instagram and Twitter on Sunday to relay a message to her followers, fans and anyone else out there who has something — anything, really — to say about her appearance.
“So just a thing- if you have an opinion about my body please, please don’t share it with me,” she captioned a photo of herself in a floral print dress and a white collar. “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.”
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“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,” Coughlan concluded.
This is not the first time Nicola has asked people to refrain from making comments about her appearance. Back in March 2021, the “Derry Girls” alum shared an op-ed she wrote two years prior, asking reporters to “judge actors for their work and not their bodies” and refrain from asking about the latter during interviews.
“Can we please stop asking women about their weight in interviews, especially when it is completely irrelevant,” she wrote at the time. Coughlan added that while many may think offensive questions about a woman’s weight may be an outdated practice, she told followers that those inappropriate questions are still getting asked.
Every time I’m asked about my body in an interview it makes me deeply uncomfortable and so sad I’m not just allowed to just talk about the job I do that I so love
— Nicola Coughlan (@nicolacoughlan) March 1, 2021
@nicolacoughlan
So yeah, it’s 2021 it would be nice if we didn’t have to keep having this conversation.
It would really love to never be asked about it in an interview again, also I have so many other things I love to talk about, I’m Irish so I can talk till the cows come home— Nicola Coughlan (@nicolacoughlan) March 1, 2021
@nicolacoughlan
“Every time I’m asked about my body in an interview it makes me deeply uncomfortable and so sad I’m not just allowed to just talk about the job I do that I so love,” she stated. “It’s so reductive to women when we’re making great strides for diversity in the arts, but questions like that just pull us backwards.”
The 35-year-old reminded her followers that she does not consider herself a body positive activist. She added that she uses her body as a tool to tell stories and doesn’t let it define herself.
“So yeah, it’s 2021 it would be nice if we didn’t have to keep having this conversation. It would really love to never be asked about it in an interview again, also I have so many other things I love to talk about, I’m Irish so I can talk till the cows come home,” Nicola concluded.
CBS