Nicola Coughlan has hit back at body shamers by insisting on a nude scene in ‘Bridgerton’.

‘Bridgerton’ star Nicola Coughlan felt empowered by season three’s sex scenes with her co-star Luke Newton.

Or rather, an actress he told Stylist magazine in an interview on Tuesday that she insisted there be more nudity between herself and Newton’s characters to spite body shamers.

“I specifically asked for certain lines and moments to be included,” she recalls. “There is one scene where I am very naked on camera and that was my idea, my choice.”

“I just felt like the biggest ‘fuck you’ with all this talk around my body; it was incredibly empowering.”

She added: “I felt beautiful in that moment and I thought, ‘When I’m 80, I want to look back and remember how f**king sexy I looked!'”

Coughlan, who plays Penelope Featherington on the hit Netflix series, had never done a sex scene before “Bridgerton” and was published in the Los Angeles Times. earlier this week about how comfortable she and Newton, who plays Colin Bridgerton, were.

“At the end of the day we were both lying under blankets, not dressed, just resting. We thought, ‘This is why nudists do it,'” he recalled.

However, the 37-year-old actress wasn’t always excited about the upcoming nude scenes. She told the Times she was terrified when she tried on a strapless thong that was intended as protective clothing during production.

“I went into the bathroom and looked in the full-length mirror. I said, ‘Absolutely not,'” she recalls. “I hid it in the bottom of the laundry basket. I thought, “How do I do this?”

However, Coughlan is no stranger to facing uncomfortable situations – including body-shaming ones.

She has been outspoken about body positivity and stopping haters over the years, including via a 2022 Instagram post in which she asked critics to leave her alone.

“Hi! So just one thing: if you have an opinion about my body, please don’t share it with me,” she wrote next to a mirror selfie.

“Most people are nice and aren’t trying to be offensive, but I’m just a real human being and it’s really hard to handle the weight of thousands of opinions about how you look sent directly to you every day,” Coughlan continued.

She concluded, “If you have an opinion of me, that’s fine.”

“I understand that I’m on TV and that people will have something to think and say, but please don’t send it directly to me.” [heart emoji]”

The first four episodes of Bridgerton season three will begin streaming on Netflix on May 16, with the next four episodes on June 13.