'Bridgerton' star Nicola Coughlan says she wants to be known as an actor, not a 'body-positivity influencer'

• Nicola Coughlan spoke about her on-screen career and body image with Tatler on Thursday.
• She said she wants to be known as an actor rather than a symbol for body positivity.

Nicola Coughlan wants to be recognized for her acting rather than as a symbol of the body-positivity movement, the 35-year-old explained in an interview with Tatler on Thursday.

"I know the world is very body-image-obsessed but I always hope that people will focus more on my acting than that," Coughlan, an Irish performer known for her roles in the Netflix series "Derry Girls" and "Bridgerton," told the magazine.

She continued, "I also think your relationship to your body is so personal. If I decide to suddenly become a bodybuilder and [apply] fake tan and be covered in muscle, I can do that – because it's my body and it's for nobody else to own or decide what to do with."

Coughlan went on to say that she wants to "be known as an actor," not "as a body positivity influencer."

Unless weight is an important element in a script or a character's story, Coughlan said it shouldn't be discussed as a part of a performance, and it certainly shouldn't define someone's career.

This ideology fueled Coughlan's public response to a critic that referred to her as an "overweight little girl" and a "fat girl" in his reviews of her work.

"Everything I'd done to create my character had been reduced to a hurtful word and casual comment on my appearance," Coughlan wrote in the 2018 essay she published in The Guardian.

She continued, "I hope in the future that more people will talk about our work, our inspirations, our drive, rather than our looks."

Coughlan has spoken openly about her desire to separate her artistry and career from discussions surrounding her body, often using social media platforms to communicate directly with her fans.

In January, the Irish actress asked her 1.3 million Instagram followers to refrain from forwarding her online comments about her body.

While "most people are being nice and not trying to be offensive," she said it's "really hard to take the weight of thousands of opinions on how you look being sent directly to you every day."

Even though she acknowledged that TV viewers inevitably form opinions about her since she's a public figure, Coughlan said she was setting boundaries for herself.

"I beg you not to send it to me directly," she said.

The "Harlots" actress has also drawn attention to the sexist questions that interviewers ask female performers, tweeting that the "reductive" focus on women's weight and bodies was still happening in March 2021.

"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 wrote.

Coughlan clarified that she was speaking as an actor, "not a body positivity activist."

"I would lose or gain weight if an important role requirement. My body is the tool I use to tell stories, not what I define myself by," she explained.