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Bridgerton star Jessica Madsen will openly admit she has gotten some “interesting comments and some interesting DMs” about her character in the series, Cressida Cowper. But she is flattered by the love-hate mail.
The reactions might not come as a surprise, with Cressida playing the mean girl of the ton, striking up an unlikely friendship with Eloise Bridgerton and competing with Penelope Featherington for the affections of Lord Debling. But she, too, is facing immense pressure from her family to marry.
Madsen shared some examples of the messages to People, conceding that viewers are not “the biggest fan of [Cressida].” Comments include: “Thank you for letting me hate you so much,” and “I love hating you so much.”
Madsen has a playful response to them: “You’re welcome.”
Madsen sees the feedback as compliments on her acting performance. “It makes me feel like I’ve done my job right,” she explained. “I really don’t take those things personally. The internet is wild. But I like it when people who I meet have appreciated the show. Yeah. That’s always lovely.”
Madsen also addressed Cressida’s storyline in the second part of season 3. She teased that there are many “twists and turns” to come.
“The mask is falling off Cressida. She’s becoming a human being,” she said, adding that “we’re getting to see her human side and why she is the way she is. And yeah, that every mean girl has something beneath her.”
Madsen spoke to The Cut in an interview published yesterday about that human side of Cressida too—one that is visible in her friendship with Eloise Bridgerton (played by Claudia Jessie).
“Well, we’ve mainly seen Cressida try to snatch a husband, but with Eloise we see who Cressida really is and that where her weakness lies is that she’s not being true to herself or connecting to herself,” Madsen explained. “She’s putting on a mask. She’s putting on a front that her mom has encouraged her to, and she has all of these boxes she needs to tick like, I’ve gotta flirt but not too much. I’ve got to be this, I’ve got to be that. But in this friendship, we really start to see her go, Who am I? And what actually is it that I really want?”
The second part of Bridgerton season 3, where more of Cressida’s journey will be shown, hits Netflix on June 13.
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