Fans rally behind 'Bridgerton' star Nicola Coughlan after she's called 'fat' in vile body-shaming article

LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA: Penelope Featherington's body is not up for debate!

A writer for 'The Spectator' Zoe Strimpel, has got all 'Bridgerton' fans riled up after she called Nicola Coughlan, who plays the youngest Featherington sister on the Netflix show, "fat," as per Perez Hilton. 

What did the 'Spectator' article say about Nicola Coughlan? 

In the article titled 'Bridgerton’s Big Fantasy', Strimpel noted that she liked watching Coughlan's "expressive face" and complimented her acting skills.

Things took a turn as she somehow spiraled into criticizing the actress' appearance. Strimpel wrote, "But reader, she is not hot, and there is no escaping it, as I was reminded recently when she graced Harper’s Bazaar’s cover in a fabulous outfit that still did not change her not-hotness."

She continued, "Coughlan is an actress of great value and might be adored, but she is simply not plausible as the friend who would catch the handsome rich aristocrat Colin Bridgerton’s eye in that way. She’s not shapely — which can work as sexy even in Hollywood; she’s fat."

"There’s nothing wrong with fat – it’s hardly a moral shortcoming – but a zest for equality and diversity (and in this case good acting) just isn’t enough to make a fat girl who wins the prince remotely plausible. In the cruel visual semantics of the screen, poor plump Penelope may be set up to win her man, but will she win her audience? The jury, dear reader, is out.”

Nicola Coughlan urges people to stop talking about her body

As per Yahoo, the Irish actress opened up about her will over people not talking about her body. In a social media post, she said, "If you have an opinion about my body please, please don't share it with me, "adding "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."

She continued, "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."

Fans side with Penelope Featherington's role 

Several social media users stood up for Nicola Coughlan with a user saying on Reddit, "Brother ewwwwww It's crazy to see social progress regress in real-time right before your eyes. This article is disgusting."

Another user said, "What the actual fuck. The fact that this passes as “journalism” is wild."

A user said, "This is so disgusting."

A user said, "Seriously she looks and is shaped very much like a friend of mine and both women are GORGEOUS. Have no trouble dating. And both my friend and this character are smart and articulate and well-read and interesting which, you know, men like!!"

A user said, "AWWWWW HELL NOOO!!!" Another user wrote, "I’m so sad for this person who thinks that if a person isn’t traditionally hot they don’t deserve love and that hot man can’t fall in love with someone’s personality and who thinks this kind of vile stuff is worth putting her name on but also like… we’re talking about the same Nicola Coughlan, right? I don’t watch Bridgerton so I’m mostly going off of press tour looks but she seems pretty hot to me?"

An X user said, "No wonder you allowed @realzoestrimpel to try and tear down Nicola Coughlan when this is the crap you’re publishing, absolutely disgraceful."

A user said, "How dare you allow such a nasty, body shaming, bullying, phobic, and downright nasty article about Nicola Coughlan to be published. If you haven't heard, it's viral on TikTok, and you're about to be blocked by a LOT of people."

Another user said, "What a nasty, nasty article. We can't believe in 2024 that such awfulness would be allowed to be published about our Princess Nicola Coughlan. Boycott @spectator."

This article contains remarks made on the Internet by individual people and organizations. MEAWW cannot confirm them independently and does not support claims or opinions being made online.