Ever since we saw her as the slightly naive “wee lesbian” (her character’s words) Clare in Derry Girls, we’ve developed somewhat of a parasocial relationship with Nicola Coughlan and, as such, want all the details on her boyfriends, past and present.
The Irish actor was born on January 9, 1987, and made her big break in the touching coming-of-age sitcom based in 90s Northern Ireland during a period known as The Troubles—a conflict between unionists and loyalists on whether the region should join or remain separate from the United Kingdom.
Her fame was cemented as Penelope Featherington in Netflix’s hit period drama Bridgerton, which has been compared to Gossip Girl in Regency England. The series is based on Julia Quinn’s bestselling series of the same name. It was in Bridgerton that fans started to speculate she might be IRL romantically connected to her co-star.
When it comes to her dating red flags, Coughlan told Marie Claire Australia: “When guys want to do a joker impression. Just don’t…do that. That’s just an immediate ick and it’s never good. I know that’s very specific,” she said. “This is really snobby, but when someone uses the wrong ‘you’re’. That makes me go ‘oh’, which is bad, it’s bad, but then I think ‘you just have to accept that’…but it can make me cringe a little bit.”
Nicola Coughlan’s boyfriends
With all that said, let’s dive into Nicola Coughlan‘s boyfriends, rumored or otherwise.
Luke Newton (2023/24)
In a rumor that began with their electric chemistry as the will-they-won’t-they Penelope Featherington and Colin Bridgerton, Nicola and Luke Newton are not dating IRL. She told Extra at the Bridgerton season 3 premiere, “We think it’s really sweet, I think because we truly love each other,” before clarifying Newton’s status in her life.
“He is a really special person in my life, and I got to do this experience with him,” she shared. “I’ll never get to do something like this again, on this scale… It’s so nice having such a lovely friend that I can do all this with.” So, there you have it—just friends!
However, she did reflect on those intimate scenes in season 3 of Bridgerton. “It’s crazy because I felt like those scenes would be terrifying to watch back, and they were initially… But then when I watched them, I went, ‘No, they’re everything we wanted them to be and more,’ she said.
Laurie Kynaston (2022)
In 2022, Nicola Coughlan was rumored to be dating her Derry Girls co-star Laurie Kynaston, per an article in The Mirror, but that was never confirmed.
