The legend, icon and (forever) moment Nicola is currently enjoying an absolutely sensational year as Bridgerton season 3’s leading lady. The brand new season has already broken streaming records previously set by the series, and fans all over the world are absolutely obsessed with Colin and Penelope’s love story.

But alongside all the well-deserved praise, Nicola has had to face a constant barrage of comments about her body. Addressing the conversation in a recent Stylist cover interview, Nicola called the comments “insulting,” “disappointing” and “reductive”.

“There is so much discourse online about how I look, and I don’t think I could ever express how hard that is,” Nicola said.

“It’s insulting because I worked hard on this show; a year of fittings and dance lessons and shooting, I barely saw my family, I gave it my absolute all,” she added. “And then I start doing press and all people want to talk about is my body? It’s so f—ing disappointing and reductive.”

While the comments seem to have got even more intense with her leading role in Bridgerton season 3, it’s not the first time Nicola has had to face these kind of unsolicited opinions about her body.

Back in 2022, Nicola took to Instagram to directly ask people to stop commenting on her body – whether it be well-intentioned or out-right negative.

In a now-deleted Instagram post, Nicola wrote: “Hello! So just a thing – 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 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.”

“If you have an opinion about me that’s ok, I understand I’m on TV and that people will have things to think and say but I beg you not to send it to me directly,” she added.

Bridgerton season 3 part 2 includes a scene in which Nicola appears ‘very naked’ in front of the camera as Penelope. She personally asked for that scene to be included in the show, as a direct response to the trolls who comment on her body online.

Speaking to Stylist, she explained: “You go, ‘Ok, what do I want to show? What don’t I want to show? What’s scripted, and what do I want to add?’”

“I specifically asked for certain lines and moments to be included,” she continued. “There’s one scene where I’m very naked on camera, and that was my idea, my choice. It just felt like the biggest ‘f— you’ to all the conversation surrounding my body; it was amazingly empowering. I felt beautiful in the moment, and I thought: ‘When I’m 80, I want to look back on this and remember how f—ing hot I looked!'”