Nicola Coughlan is proud of her 'very naked' scene in "Bridgerton" season 3. Her parents will never see it due to a clause in her Netflix contract.
Liam Daniel / Netflix
"Bridgerton" star Nicola Coughlan says Netflix will be providing her with a PG-rated cut of the latest season with less nudity so that her parents can watch it.
The first half of season three of the popular regency-era romance drama returned on May 16 (it will be split into two parts, with the latter half arriving on June 13).
The new episodes focus on the third eldest Bridgerton sibling, Colin (Luke Newton), and his friends-to-lovers romance with Penelope Featherington (Coughlin).
While fans of the Julia Quinn "Bridgerton" book series have been eagerly anticipating many of the book's raunchiest scenes — the "mirror scene" among them — Coughlan has taken steps to ensure that her loved ones don't have to suffer through the uncomfortable experience of watching her sex scenes.
On SiriusXM's The Morning Mash Up in April, the 37-year-old actor confirmed the rumor that she had negotiated with Netflix and Shondaland to provide her with an alternative PG cut of the new season.
Netflix
"It's literally written into my contract," she said. "People think I'm like saying it as a joke. I just don't want to. I grew up Irish Catholic."
"That's just not how we vibe," she added.
Coughlan grew up in Galway, in the west of Ireland.
The Netflix series is rated TV-MA for its frequent use of nudity and sex, and Coughlan's requested edit likely cut out the more mature scenes that she and Newton filmed.
Despite her prudishness around her family watching her sex scenes, Coughlan has revealed that she requested to be "very naked on camera" in one of the scenes in the new episodes.
Coughlan told Stylist magazine in a new interview published on May 15: "I specifically asked for certain lines and moments to be included."
She continued: "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."
Coughlan added that she was fine with shooting the explicit scenes because she got to choose what was included and work with an intimacy coordinator.
"Bridgerton" is one of several major productions to employ intimacy coordinators to help create safe environments for actors filming nude or other intimate scenes. The position is even more important now that numerous actors have spoken up about feeling uncomfortable on set.
Coughlan said: "I felt beautiful in the moment, and I thought: 'When I'm 80, I want to look back on this and remember how fucking hot I looked!'"
