"I am just one real-life human being and it’s really hard"
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In celebrity news this week, actress Nicola Coughlan - who plays Penelope Featherington in the hit Netflix show - has shared an emotive post on social media compelling fans to think before they comment on her body.
Writing to her 1.2 million followers, she shared that as a "real-life human being", she finds it hard to read as many messages as she gets commenting on how she looks all the time.
"So just a thing – if you have an opinion about my body please, please don’t share it with me," she said. "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."
She went on: "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 ❤️".
Finishing the post on a positive, she concluded: "Anyways here's a pic of me in my hotel in NY about to go to SNL, it’s unrelated to this post but delighted with my hair in it."
The 35-year-old is also known for her role as Clare Devlin in Derry Girls.
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This comes after years of the actress asking fans to have more compassion for those working in the public eye and to stop being "reductive" about how women look.
Last year, she Tweeted: "Can we please stop asking women about their weight in interviews, especially when it's completely irrelevant."
"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," she went on. "It’s so reductive to women when we’re making great strides for diversity in the arts, but questions like that just pull us backward."
"I mean this in the nicest way possible, I’m not a body positivity activist, I’m an actor. I would lose or gain weight if [it was] an important role requirement. My body is the tool I use to tell stories, not what I define myself by."
Concluding her message, Nicola said it would be "nice" if "we didn’t have to keep having this conversation," adding that she would "really love to never be asked about it [her body] in an interview again."
Hear, hear. 👏
Ally is Marie Claire UK's Senior Health and Sustainability Editor, a well-regarded wellness expert, ten-time marathoner, and Boston Qualifying runner.
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