Bridgerton‘s Nicola Coughlan has a rather surprising reason why she no longer roots for Kristen Doute and Luke Broderick‘s happily ever after.
During the Tuesday, April 2, episode of Watch What Happens Live With Andy Cohen, Coughlan, 37, was asked whether she was “hopeful” that Doute, 41, and Broderick, 33, were “endgame” after finding love before filming Bravo’s The Valley.
“So I was more open and then my friend said he reminded her of the Unabomber,” Coughlan said while fellow guest Brittany Cartwright gasped beside her.
Ted Kaczynski — also known as the Unabomber — was arrested in 1996 and pleaded guilty to charges including transportation of an explosive with intent to kill or injure, mailing an explosive device with the intent to kill or injure and use of a destructive device in relation to a crime of violence. He was sentenced to eight consecutive life terms in prison without the possibility of parole and he died by suicide in June 2023.
Coughlan’s unexpected comparison comes as Doute and Broderick’s relationship continues to be a major topic of conversation on season 1 of The Valley. The couple originally met in June 2022 shortly after her split from Alex Menache but didn’t go public until later that year.
“Right after we met at the wedding, or, like, hung out at the wedding, we had sex,” Doute recalled on a December 2022 episode of their “Sex, Love and What Else Matters” podcast. “I battled with being, like, your person. I love you so much, but just the thought of being someone’s girlfriend again threw me through a loop because I want to be a wife and I want to be a mother. Most of all, I just want to be a mother and a partner. And I was so tired of being a girlfriend for a couple of years and then having s–t fall apart.”
Despite their long-distance romance, the pair recently opened up about their plans to start a family. (Doute resides in Los Angeles while Broderick is largely based in Colorado.)
“Watching all of my friends over the past few years get married, have babies and grow their families, [I started thinking], ‘S–t, I am the oldest girl in this group. When is my time?’” Doute said in a March episode of The Valley. “We have been kind of doing this long-distance thing, but he decided he is going to spend the summer in the Valley with me because we are going to try to have a baby.”
Doute’s costar Jax Taylor, however, continuously brought up his concerns.
“I just want to make sure she’s going to be OK having a kid out of wedlock. There’s things that can happen,” he explained. “I just know this because Brittany’s friends have had kids out of wedlock. They are raising the kids by themselves, have to have full-time jobs, health insurance, school, bills and food. It all adds up.”
After filming wrapped on The Valley, Doute and Broderick revealed that she had a “nonviable pregnancy” that forced her to miscarry. The duo have since shared updates in more recent episodes about how they are continuing to try to have a baby.
The Valley airs on Bravo Tuesdays at 9 p.m. ET and is available to stream on Peacock the next day.
