“Sorry, that’s my mom—I’m just on an interview, Mom!”
Nicola Coughlan is sitting in what I can only assume is her mother’s house, presumably in her hometown of Galway, Ireland. Through my Zoom screen and over her shoulder, I catch glimpses of what appear to be patterned wallpaper and frilly antique furniture. I just barely hear her mother pop in and out of the room at the start of our 20-minute chat. (“You’re all right, don’t worry. You can pull the door [closed] if you want,” Coughlan calls out to her.)
She’s wearing what you probably wear when you’re kicking back at mom’s: an oversized, baby-pink sweatshirt—it has big white lettering arched across the front, the kind you usually see on merch for a university or at tourist gift shops; no makeup; no fancy hairstyling. Her platinum-blonde hair is down and flowing past her shoulders in slight bends.
It’s the look of a woman enjoying the chance to reset after absolutely crushing it at life for the past few months. During the spring and early summer, she embarked on a global press tour for Bridgerton’s third season (parts one and two), launched another show—Big Mood—in the UK, and has gone viral at every turn for her off-screen chemistry with costar Luke Newton and her endless wit in interviews (lest we forget: “I’m a very proud member of the perfect-breasts community.”). Most recently, she even turned an off-the-cuff joke she made about The Real Housewives during an interview into a studio-recorded song (its proceeds are benefitting LBGTQ+ organizations). I bet you know the one: “Shoes…More Shoes.”
But even from the comfort of home, Coughlan is still technically at work when she calls to fill me in on her skin care must-haves, how she plans her high-fashion red carpet looks, and a few hair and makeup secrets from the set of Bridgerton. But hey, I guess that’s just how things go when you’re really, really good at everything.
Allure: First of all, what does it feel like to be winning at life?
Nicola Coughlan: The press tour for Bridgerton was amazing, but it was the most full-on thing I’ve ever done. I’ve never done that much travel. I’ve never been that many places in the world, met that many people. It was incredible, but I’m definitely in the post-immune-system-collapse period right now. We had the premiere on a Wednesday, and then on a Thursday I started on the film I’m doing, The Magic Faraway Tree, so I haven’t stopped much. But I had a few days off, and my immune system went, “See ya.” I saw a [meme] the other day where it was like, “You thought you’d have a brat summer, and look at you on antibiotics.” I’m like, “That’s so tragic that that’s me.”