Voicing her thoughts on the matter over on Twitter, Nicola Coughlan said that comments about weight are “reductive to women”, later adding that questions regarding her body make her “deeply uncomfortable”.Â
Derry Girls star (and all around legend) Nicola Coughlan had an important reminder for people after one podcast host referred to her as “the fat girl from Bridgerton”.
Taking to social media to remind people of the dos and don’ts of interview etiquette, the Galway actress urged people to stop asking women about their weight – especially when doing so is completely irrelevant… which it usually is.
Saying that it’s still very much a modern problem, Couglan tweeted to say:
“I’m seeing a lot of interviews from 10 years ago where people go ‘Oh weren’t the questions so inappropriate!’ unfortunately it’s still happening.
“Every time I’m asked about my body in an interview it makes me deeply uncomfortable and so sad I’m not just allowed to just talk about the job I do that I so love.
“It’s so reductive to women when we’re making great strides for diversity in the arts, but questions like that just pull us backwards.”
Commenting that she is not defined by her outer appearance, Couglan later added:
“Also, and I mean this in the nicest way ah [sic] possible, I’m not a body positivity activist, I’m an actor I would lose or gain weight if an important role requirement [sic]. My body is the tool I use to tell stories, not what I define myself by.
“So yeah, it’s 2021 it would be nice if we didn’t have to keep having this conversation. It [sic] would really love to never be asked about it in an interview again, also I have so many other things I love to talk about, I’m Irish so I can talk till the cows come home.”
https://twitter.com/nicolacoughlan/status/1366503990138195972
Unfortunately not the first time she’s spoken out on the topic, Coughlan accompanied her tweets with a link to an article she penned for The Guardian two years ago. Titled ‘Critics, judge me for my work in Derry Girls and on the stage, not on my body’, the article was in response to a critic labelling her an “overweight little girl”.
