As in previous seasons, there was no shortage of bodice-ripping heat between Colin and Penelope, but some people weren’t happy about it.
The third season of Netflix’s “Bridgerton” has drawn critical praise and record-breaking viewership, but recent discourse around the series’ central coupling has drawn a chorus of dissenting voices among fans.
Season 3 of “Bridgerton,” which began airing in May, was focused on the burgeoning relationship between Colin Bridgerton (played by Luke Newton) and Penelope Featherington (Nicola Coughlan).
As in previous seasons, there was no shortage of bodice-ripping heat between Colin and Penelope, who were affectionately nicknamed “Polin” by viewers. A Forbes article published last week, however, has sparked debate for questioning whether the world was “ready” to see a “mixed-weight romance” depicted on-screen.
“If this romance upsets you, it says more about how deeply you’ve internalized fatphobia than it says about the bodies of the actors playing Penelope and Colin,” the article said.
The Forbes piece also linked to two other articles to support its claim. One of them, published by the U.K.’s The Spectator in May, described Coughlan simply as “not hot.”
“She’s not shapely ― which can work as sexy even in Hollywood; she’s fat,” the Spectator article continued. “There’s nothing wrong with fat ― it’s hardly a moral shortcoming ― but a zest for equality and diversity (and in this case good acting) just isn’t enough to make a fat girl who wins the prince remotely plausible.”
The second, which appeared in The Guardian, was largely defensive of Coughlan, though it deemed her “a little bit fat” in its headline.
Though the Forbes article ended on a complimentary note with regard to both “Bridgerton” and Coughlan herself, it nonetheless garnered a frosty response online.
“This only applies where the female character is bigger,” one person wrote on X, formerly Twitter, pointing to shows like “The Sopranos” and “The King of Queens” in which male characters with larger bodies were coupled with smaller-bodied women.
Added another post on X: “a ‘mixed-weight’ relationship?! surely this applies to in the overwhelming majority ― pretty unlikely coincidence that two people would be of identical weights. weird suggestion to imply people should partner up by weight!”
For her part, Coughlan has never appeared overly vexed by criticisms of her appearance and has emerged as an outspoken body-positivity advocate.
Speaking to the U.K.’s Stylist in May, the actor said she’d requested some of her “Bridgerton” scenes to be extra steamy to get back at trolls who have taken aim at her body.
“I specifically asked for certain lines and moments to be included,” she explained. “There’s one scene where I’m very naked on camera, and that was my idea, my choice. It just felt like the biggest ‘fuck you’ to all the conversation surrounding my body; it was amazingly empowering.”
