Nicola Coughlan – who is appearing in the Doctor Who Christmas special this year – was once forced to hit back at fans over comments they made about her weight.
The star – who is best known for her roles on Bridgerton and Derry Girls – asked fans not to share their opinions in a statement on Instagram.
Doctor Who star Nicola Coughlan on ‘really hard’ weight comments
Back in 2022, Nicola, 37, was forced to take to Instagram to address fan comments about her weight.
In a post for her 6.3 million followers to see, Nicola wrote: “If you have an opinion about my body, please, please don’t share it with me.
“Most people are being nice and not trying to be offensive,” she then continued.
“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 then added.
Nicola hits back
This isn’t the first time that Nicola has hit back at comments about her weight.
In 2021, Nicola appeared at the Golden Globes, rocking a tulle gown with a black cardigan.
However, one cruel troll tweeted: “The fat girl from Bridgerton is wearing a black cardigan at the Golden Globes, (because) no matter how hot and stylish you are, if you’re a fat girl there will always be a black cardigan you think about wearing, then decide against, but ultimately wear (because) you feel like you have to.”
Nicola hit back on Twitter, saying: “I thought the cardigan looked ace. Molly Goddard used them on her runway with the dresses. That’s where the idea came from. Also, I have a name.”
She then linked articles about how actors should be judged on their body of work, not their bodies.
“It’s so reductive to women when we’re making great strides for diversity in the arts, but questions (about weight) just pull us backwards,” she wrote.
Nicola Coughlan on Doctor Who Christmas special role
Fans of Nicola will be able to catch her in the upcoming Doctor Who Christmas special, Joy to the World.
She will be playing the role of Joy, who books a room in the mysterious Time Hotel. She soon encounters the Doctor, aliens, dinosaurs, and a mysterious briefcase.
Speaking about the role, Nicola said: “I didn’t grow up with Doctor Who. In my house in Ireland, we only had the two Irish channels, no BBC, so it wasn’t in my day-to-day.”
Speaking to RadioTimes, she continued: “When they asked me, I was super keen. But when I tried to do the research, I thought, ‘Oh my God… this is a full universe!’ I was kind of overwhelmed.
“But then I thought the thing to do would be just try to do my best acting and hopefully make the Who fans happy!”
Read more: Ruth Jones drops Gavin and Stacey Christmas spoiler as she hints beloved character will die
Doctor Who: Joy to the World airs on Christmas Day at 5.10pm on BBC One and BBC iPlayer.
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