Actor Nicola Coughlan is styled in ‘Dear Reader’, a manor-born fashion story for Harper’s Bazaar UK’s [IG] May 2024 issue. Coughlan is styled by Charlie Harrington with refined elegance from Alémais, Brandon Maxwell, Dolce & Gabbana, Emilia Wickstead, Richard Quinn, Schiaparelli and more.

Coughlan wears jewelry by Cartier, David Morris Jewelry, Tiffany & Co. and Van Cleef & Arpels in images by Agata Pospieszynska [IG]./ Hair by Luke Pluckrose; makeup by Sara Hill

The fashion shoot took place at Goodwood [IG], home of The Duke and Duchess of Richmond and Gordon. Goodwood roadway was featured in Ralph Lauren’s Polo Fall 2023 Campaign.

‘Bridgerton’ Season Three

Nicola Coughlan avoids the interviewer, preferring to speak directly to Harper’s Bazar UK readers. This practice is growing among high-profile actors, activists and celebrities, who feel rightly that their narrative is controlled by click-bait headlines and featured quotes.

In this third season of ‘Bridgerton’, Nicola’s character Penelope Featherington moves from a supporting character role, stepping into the center-stage limelight. This is not an entirely comfortable space for Coughlan to occupy. The actor writes:

Pen was a supporting character, the oddball in the corner, but this time she’s very much centre-stage. The only issue with this is that ‘oddball in the corner’ is actually a niche I do very well. I’m comfortable there! Strange girl no one pays attention to? Where do I sign up?

Nicola Coughlan has divided her life into three categories — in order to maintain her sanity with the upcoming press and fame blitz. They are:

The person playing a character on screen.
The person you see dressed in a fancy gown on a red carpet.
The person I am at home – away from all that, who’s wearing her old leggings backwards.

In 2018, the ‘Bridgerton’ star wrote an article for The Guardian with the thesis: ‘Please focus on my work and not my body.’ Coughlan still feels the same, but the interviewers’ narratives haven’t changed.

It’s always about her size — hence her insistence on speaking directly to the readers, without interference. She doesn’t say the questions are depressing after awhile, but clearly she finds the obsession with her weight exhausting.

Nicola Coughlan is a damn feisty woman! As she moves to her next bulletpoint, we must quote her directly.

You must have a sparkling personality! But not have too much personality, because, remember, in this industry, men might not be cancelled for being abusers, but women will get cancelled for saying something slightly annoying in an interview one time. Be wary, sisters.

Coughlan expressed deep gratitude to ‘Bridgerton’ stars Luke Newton and Lydia West in keeping her together filming eight months of ‘Bridgerton’ while overlapping a seven-week sprint for ‘The Big Mood’. Coughlan plays a character with bipolar disorder who is also extremely funny, in the script written by one of her closest friends Camilla Whitehill.

Reflecting on her survival story of juggling both roles while producing her best work ever, the woman standing on the precipice of stellar possibilities in her acting career says:

Although these shows are wildly different, they are intrinsically linked for me. The characters of Maggie and Pen share some similarities; they’re both writers, they both have possibly co-dependent relationships with their besties, and playing both these women pushed me far beyond what I thought I could ever do. For them to come out one right after the other feels correct.

Nicola Coughlan’s self-confidence and self-knowledge seem pretty rock-solid — even if she teeters a bit on the outside. Of note, is her rock-solid support of relief for the humanitarian crisis in Gaza, even after being advised that it could hurt her in fifth-gear career.

Coughlan refused to stand down, and to that AOC says ‘mazel tov’. ~ Anne