Nicola Coughlan is putting her fears and inhibitions behind her with the new Bridgerton season. As fans of the show know, every season of the show focuses on a different love story, and the actress stepped into the leading role for the third one.

While she felt some apprehension, she knew there were things she wanted to prove to herself. Nicola Coughlan is tired of people always commenting on her body, and she decided to take back her power by performing a very sensual intimate scene with Luke Newton, pushing through her self-consciousness and showing haters they don’t get to make her feel unattractive.

Why Nicola Coughlan Insisted On A Nude Scene In New ‘Bridgerton’ Season

Season 3 of Bridgerton, long-awaited by fans, sees Nicola Coughlan taking the lead. Her character, Penelope Featherington, and her love story with Luke Newton’s Colin Bridgerton take center stage as the main story in this season, and fans couldn’t get enough of the pair.

Nicola felt very comfortable working with Luke Newton and even insisted on having very intimate scenes with him as a way to feel empowered. The actress has suffered a lot from comments about her body, and she wanted to clap back at people who tried to shame her.

“I specifically asked for certain lines and moments to be included. There’s one scene where I’m very naked on camera, and that was my idea, my choice,” she explained in a recent interview. “It just felt like the biggest ‘f**k you’ to all the conversation surrounding my body; it was amazingly empowering.”

Nicola Coughlan really enjoyed the experience and knows she will remember it fondly for many years. “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!'”

Nicola Almost Changed Her Mind About The Intimate Scene

As sure as she was that a nude scene would feel empowering, Nicola Coughlan was still very nervous before doing it and almost backed down one night as she tried on the revealing outfit she’d have to wear in the scene.

“I went to the bathroom and looked in the full-length mirror. I was like, ‘Absolutely not’,” she shared with the Los Angeles Times. “I hid it down the bottom of the laundry basket. I was like, ‘How am I going to do this?'”

Working with Luke Newton helped ease her nerves, and she eventually found the courage to go out and kill the scene. She ended up feeling very comfortable, she recalled.

“By the end of the day, we were both [she and Luke Newton] lying under a blanket, not clothed, just chillin’. We were like, ‘This is why nudists do it,'” she joked.

The actress felt a kinship with her character, and she said the way she related to Penelope Featherington helped her get over her fears.

“With Penelope this season, it felt like there were so many things that were reflected in real life. The whole theme of her stepping out of the shadows and into the light, and not feeling quite ready — I felt like I had to do that,” she explained. “It was really challenging. It was terrifying. It was cathartic. It was a million and one things. I loved it.”