Nicola Coughlan: ‘People online throw their opinions at you like grenades’

The 37-year-old Galway star is known for playing self-conscious Penelope Featherington in Netflix Regency ­drama Bridgerton and naive Clare Devlin in comedy Derry Girls, as well as one of the dolls featured in the Barbie movie.

She told Harper’s Bazaar UK that fame “doesn’t come with a handbook” and is a “learning curve every day”.

Coughlan added that she loves ­acting but “all the scrutiny isn’t easy, and fame is a very strange consequence of doing my job”.

“I have so much love and respect for the fans of things I’ve done – I want them to know that I feel grateful – but it is difficult to navigate being online when people throw their opinions of you at you like grenades,” she said.

Coughlan also explained that her Instagram account can still “annoy people”, but she has changed her approach to social media to focus on sharing information from “trusted sources” or to help raise money for fundraisers.

“I feel a deep responsibility, because of how privileged I am, to speak up and try to amplify voices and causes,” she added. “Social media has made the world a dangerously binary place. The, ‘If you support X, you hate Y’ narrative is not something I am interested in, and I’ll do my best to fight against that notion.”

Coughlan also gave a sneak peek at what can be expected in series three of Bridgerton, which is expected to see her character Penelope take centre stage.

She said the main theme will be Penelope “stepping out of the shadows and into the light”, before adding: “Not only was this a journey that Pen had to embark on, it’s also one I had to go on myself. I was presented with these brilliant opportunities but was racked with doubt as to whether I could take on the challenge.”

She also said her playing the “oddball in the corner” is her niche, so becoming the leading lady in Bridgerton and Channel 4 comedy Big Mood has been an adjustment.

Coughlan said: “I’m in disbelief that I’m the leading lady in a romance show and it’s not because I find myself hideous, as some people have assumed when I say that – I’ll have you know, in the right lighting I’m a solid seven – but because it’s not something I ever dreamed of.”​ Harper’s Bazaar UK is on sale now and the interview is available online at harpersbazaar.com/uk/nicolacoughlan.