‘Sex Education’ and new focus of ‘Bridgerton’s second season actor Simone Ashley covers the April 21st issue of Porter Edit Magazine. Marquessa Whyte styles the star in Chloé, Cult Gaia, Dries Van Noten, Gabriela Hearst, Isabel Marant, Paco Rabanne, Savannah Morrow, Stella McCartney and more.

Petros Studio [IG] is behind the lens for the fashion shoot with Missoni on the cover./ Art direction by Michael Kelly; set design by Julia Dias; hair by Daniel Martin; makeup by Alex Babsky

The second season of Bridgerton comes to Netflix on March 25. In the second-most-watched Netflix series, new girl Simone Ashley promises Porter Edit’s Shannon Mahanty that Bridgerton’s new season “is much grittier.”

When the ‘Sex Education’ actor of Indian heritage says: “There’s a lot of drama and a lot of sexual tension. My parents will be watching it – but not with me,” we all get the message. Even if you haven’t watched Bridgerton, most people know that the Shonda Rhimes’ Shondaland production of Julia Quinn’s novels – which follow the love lives of Regency-era high society — aren’t your typical, stuffy period drama.

Ashley will play Kate Sharma, a new arrival in London, who becomes the love interest of the eldest Bridgerton brother, Anthony (played by Jonathan Bailey). “It’s like a fairy tale,” muses Ashley to Porter Edit, “but, you know, it’s not a typical fairy tale because these [are] two incredibly complex characters. For want of a better expression, [it’s] fucked-up people with a complicated history.”

Bridgerton Season Two Erotic Tension

As readers we get a taste of the erotic tension atmosphere:

Ashley’s character, Kate, is headstrong and sharp (the role required her to take a crash course in horse riding), and when she meets Anthony Bridgerton, the two instantly clash. But then he pursues her younger sister and pure hatred turns into passionate tension – and a messy love triangle ensues. There are tantalizing will-they/won’t-they moments galore and Ashley assures me it’s worth the build-up. “Johnny and I have incredible working chemistry together. It was explosive on set.” It was helpful that they got on well off-camera, too. “There was no real time to hang out, but we did manage to sneak off for a drink together one day when we were filming on location. We’ve always had each other’s backs from the start; it’s a partnership.”

Normalizing Diversity

Ashley touches on a topic AOC feels strongly about, and it’s the normalization of diversity. Instead of racial tension in every interaction and race being the center of every onscreen episode, Shonda Rhimes does the complete opposite. If anyone can pull off the change, it’s Shonda Rhimes.

“Being part of these shows feels amazing,” says Ashley. “And it also feels like the right thing to do. [The diversity] isn’t really commented on in either of them, it’s just normalized, and I think that’s what makes them so great. I think the more these shows are being created, the more normal it’s becoming. I can certainly feel a temperature change.”

Asked another predictable question about her sense of obligation to represent her South Asian heritage in film, Ashley pushes back on the question.

Porter writes that a 2020-2021 US TV study found that the representation of South Asian women on TV stood at 0.3 percent. AOC intends to follow up by putting that number in perspective. The entire US Asian population is about 7 percent of the current American population, based on 2019 data. Here is India specific immigration info on America.

Take half of that for women to get 3.5%. Then half that again to remove children and under age 21 from the actor equation to get 1.7 %. [Yes, I know kids do feature in shows, but this is back of the envelope calculations.} But the 1.7% includes all Asian women over age 21, not South Asian women. No more assumptions this minute, but the [woefully underrepresented] discrimination the way a Republican would calculate it, is about 0.3% against 1-1.2% of the female US population.

Obviously, if we consider that these Netflix dramas are seen worldwide, the math changes immeasurably, but Mahanty chose to go with US TV time statistics, so AOC expands her argument with US data. Also, with Ashley having Indian heritage, we must add Bollywood into the mix. Etc. etc. etc.

Shonda Rhimes tries not to get her tires stuck in the mud on the topic of representation. She’s making good films for a global audience. A zillion white people are watching Bridgerton, and Ashley flies in Shonda Rhimes airspace when talking about her ‘obligations’ to her ‘own’ people.

Alleged Actor Obligations that Simone Ashley Inherits as a South Asian Woman

Answering the question about her obligations to represent South Asian women on the screen, Ashley responds:

“Of course I am deeply proud of my heritage, [but] no,” she says, firmly, “because I’m not a spokesperson for Indian people, I’m an actress. For me, my responsibility is to read the script, do the work, turn up on set and do a great job. That’s it. I guess everyone deals with it in their own way, but I am an actress at the end of the day. Opportunities should be open for any individual, and I just think us being there is enough.”

Ashley continues, emphasizing that she is drawn to roles that excite her and allow her to:

“do something different. I am interested in some culturally specific parts, but I want to go up for roles that anyone can go for. I love movies about the human experience, [and] characters with a really interesting journey, who I really want to fight for. And it’s got to be fun at the end of the day – whether it’s a drama or a comedy – because you’re giving up months of your life for it, [so] why wouldn’t you want to have fun?”

Read the entire ‘Hot Property’ interview on Net-a-Porter.