Areporter who criticized Irish actress Nicola Coughlan’s physical appearance after the release of Bridgerton’s third season, has doubled down on her controversial comments.

British Columnist Zoe Strimpel wrote an article for The Spectator, expressing her disapproval of the Irish actress’ portrayal of Penelope Featherington on the Netflix series. In the article, Strimpel says that overweight women are not believable as a romantic interest, using Coughlan as an example.

She wrote: “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.”

Yesterday, Strimpel released a follow up article, addressing the “waves of personalized abuse” she said she received as backlash. Instead of backpedaling, the writer reiterated her message, saying “this isn’t rocket science.”

Her second commentary on the subject focused less on her initial critique of Coughlan and more on the “vile torrent” that she said she is experiencing. Strimpel voiced her concern about the future generation’s humanity, writing: “It’s clear that all sense of scale, not to mention civility, is dead and that people’s language abilities have been seriously degraded by a decade on social media.”

Nicola was the victim of a cruel and unprovoked attack on her physical appearance© Getty Images

On social media, many have sprung to Coughlan’s defense, condemning the cruel body shaming and some other reporters have written responses to Strimpel’s unprovoked attack and unwelcome comments.

Related video: Nicola Coughlan ‘worked really hard on her spicy scene’ (Dailymotion)

Fellow journalist Anne-Marie Tomchak shared an article for the Irish Independent, writing: “So much for progress. Body shaming women is well and truly alive in the smartphone era. This week it’s Nicola Coughlan. Next week it’ll be someone else. It’s not harmless. It has a lasting impact. And it’s holding us all back.”

Coughlan did not personally respond to the online discourse but has spoken about her battle with media scrutiny in the past, saying: “all the scrutiny isn’t easy, and fame is a very strange consequence of doing my job.”