Nicola Coughlan reveals she's deleted all of her social media because it has a 'really negative impact' on her after hitting back at 'plus size' label

Nicola Coughlan has admitted she struggles with her own social media and has made the decision to delete her account on Monday.  

The Irish actress, 38, explained that she deletes social media apps from her phone because they have a 'really negative impact' on her. 

Nicola, who is best known for starring in Bridgerton and Derry Girls, said she only uses Instagram to promote work. 

Speaking to the BBC, she said: 'I just download social media to post something and then delete it straight away as it can have a really negative impact.'

Nicola is starring in the new adaptation of Enid Blyton's beloved The Magic Faraway Tree and is portraying the kind-hearted fairy Silky.

Her co-stars Andrew Garfield and Claire Foy, who play the children's parents, agreed with Nicola's views on social media. 

Spiderman actor Andrew, 42, added that he's very worried about the impact that social media has on young people.

He said: 'The more we live through this technological revolution, the more we understand that our consciousness is being hijacked.

'Our attention, a valuable commodity, is being commodified and is being used and abused by tech companies.'

Andrew explained that he feels 'very strongly' about the issue and stressed that we need to put in 'the hard work of divesting our attention and reconnecting with eternal things like nature'.

Meanwhile Claire added that the issue goes beyond social media and it 'affects all of us' not just children. 

Asked whether she would support something like a social media ban for under 16s, she said it may not be as simple as that but she does support action.   

It comes after Nicola hit back at assumptions that she is 'plus-sized' as she revealed she was a size 8-10 during her Bridgerton nude scenes.

The actress said that despite featuring in such scenes she has 'no interest' in promoting body positivity and finds any criticism or furore around her figure 'boring.'

Posting on the cover of ELLE UK's April edition, Nicola shared she'd 'lost a bunch of weight' before filming her viral nude moment in Bridgerton's third series.

She added that in the past she's 'hated' speaking to fans who wanted to praise her figure as she feels it dilutes the value of the work she's put into the role.

Nicola said: 'The thing I say sometimes that p****s people off is I have no interest in body positivity. 

'When I was a kid growing up, I never thought about that. I didn't look at actors and think about their bodies. So, I actually don't care.

'There's a lot of things I'm passionate about, it's not one of them… That's someone else's thing. It's not mine.' 

Reflecting on comments about her figure on the show, she added: 'You know what was really bizarre was, when I was shooting that series, I was exercising a lot because I knew I had to, so I had lost a bunch of weight – I was probably a size 10 and one of the corsets was a size eight.

'And then people talked about how I was plus size and I was like, "How f****d are we that I am the biggest woman you want to see on screen?"'

'I remember this really drunk girl once talking to me in a bathroom being like, "I loved [Bridgerton] because of your body." And started talking about my body, and I was like, "I want to die. I hate this so much…"

'It's really hard when you work on something for months and months of your life, you don't see your family, you really dedicate yourself and then it comes down to what you look like – it's so f*****g boring.'

Nicola also shared rare insight into her relationship with boyfriend, actor Jake Dunn, saying: 'We try our best. I send him annoying videos all the time and then, you know, a lot of Facetime, but he's super-busy. 

'Before we were together, I just thought he was a really talented actor. But I love when people have their own stuff going on.'