Lady Whistledown revealed the biggest scandal during Bridgerton season 1 and the actress who plays her explains why. Though the focus of the series is on the Bridgerton siblings as they find love, regency-era London’s own Gossip Girl, Lady Whistledown is both the narrator of the show and an influential presence in the ton. Throughout the show’s first three seasons, Lady Whistledown keeps track of everything going on in Grosvenor Square from the comfort of one of the most important houses in the show.

The Bridgerton season 1 ending twist revealed that Penelope Featherington (Nicola Coughlan) has been Lady Whistledown all along. One of three Featherington siblings, Penelope and her family are rocked by the arrival of Marina Thompson (Ruby Barker), a distant cousin, early in season 1. Marina arrives to find her own suitor during the show’s inaugural matching season, but it is revealed early on that she is harboring a big secret. Marina is pregnant, making her less than desirable as a woman pregnant out of wedlock in the era the show is set in. Lady Whistledown eventually exposes Marina’s secret.

Nicola Coughlan Explains Why Penelope Reveals Marina’s Pregnancy

Coughlan Notes Penelope Still Has Growing Up To Do

The biggest twist of all comes when it is revealed that Penelope, Marina’s cousin, is Lady Whistledown herself. Coughlan explained why her character exposed her family’s secret, causing them to be shamed throughout the ton. In an interview with Variety, Coughlan says that the decision was difficult for Penelope, whose own feelings for Colin Bridgerton clouded her judgment. Coughlan knew it was coming, even if she didn’t want it to happen, but rationalized it by citing Shondaland’s portrayal of complicated women who make questionable decisions. She said:

We didn’t get all the scripts at once so [I could see] it was sort of leading there, but I kept thinking, “Penelope’s never gonna do it. She’s too nice; she’s too kind.” But then, part of the Shondaland [philosophy] is they’re not afraid to write complicated women that are unlikeable and make bad decisions sometimes. We don’t have to present this level of perfection. I was thinking of [Breaking Bad character] Walter White and whether we’d ever see a woman written like that, where they’re so uncompromisingly terrible and yet people still root for them.

I know people are really angry at Penelope, but she’s 17 years old. And she’s someone who’s so ignored in her life. Whistledown is her way to have some power in the world, but she hasn’t realized in Season 1 how much power she actually has. That’s why I hope we get Season 2 because I’d love to see what that does to her. It would have to give her some confidence because, in a way, she’s the most powerful woman in London while being the least important person. That dynamic while playing her was always so interesting to me.

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Why Lady Whistledown’s Reveal Makes Sense

Penelope Is Fueled By Emotion

Penelope’s decision to reveal her family’s secret as Lady Whistledown is a controversial one, confusing fans who saw Penelope as a moral center at Bridgerton’s rather dubious core. Coughlan is right, though – people are less willing to accept flawed, complicated women in their television shows, especially when they are influenced so wholly by emotion. Those emotions, though, are exactly why Penelope’s decision makes sense when it is revealed during the season finale that she has been Lady Whistledown all along.

Even if Marina doesn’t know that Penelope is Lady Whistledown, she forgives her for trying to prevent her from marrying Colin Bridgerton. Marina admits the error of her ways in trying to trick Colin into marriage and the two ultimately reconcile. Penelope still has a lot of growing to do, but that is what makes her journey on Bridgerton in future seasons all the more powerful. Penelope may come to regret her decision to expose her family’s secrets, but the Featheringtons would’ve faced scandal regardless when someone else discovered the truth. Her decision just sped up the process.

As Penelope frequently reminds the people around her, Lady Whistledown only reports the gossip she overhears. She comes to see that as her job, even if the gossip is often tinged with her own feelings about the people involved.The Featherington family’s household staff at the time, or at the very least, those tending to Marina and Portia’s trusted housekeeper Varley, knew the truth of Marina’s condition. Madame Delacroix clearly suspected something when she had to fit Marina for a dress.

It was only a matter of time before someone outside of the house began to suspect Marina was pregnant, and revealing the truth before Marina is able to get Colin Bridgerton to marry her means, in Penelope’s eyes, she’s preventing one of her best friends (and the man she loves) from making a huge mistake while allowing the scandal to break early.

How Lady Whistledown’s Decision Has Impacted The Show

Penelope’s Decision Influences How She Approaches Whistledown

The decision by Lady Whistledown to effectively ruin Marina Thompson in the eyes of the ton has lasting implications for Penelope. It’s the first time she reveals a deep secret instead of idle gossip, and it’s the first time she really uses Lady Whistledown, in her eyes, to protect someone she loves. It opens the door for her to do the same in the future.

In the second season, she also reveals that Eloise Bridgerton has been sneaking into a part of town where young ladies should not go and that her friend’s sneaking around is coupled with Eloise reading seemingly rebellious materials. This doesn’t entirely ruin Eloise, but it does put her on notice with Queen Charlotte and the rest of the ton. When Eloise discovers that it’s Penelope who has told everyone and has been writing as Lady Whistledown, it also fractures their friendship.

This is Penelope’s way of protecting Eloise from ending up in trouble with the Queen, but Eloise doesn’t see it that way. She winds up befriending Cressida, the same young woman who bullied Penelope throughout their society events, because Cressida is the only person who is kind to her in the aftermath of the scandal, driving a wedge even further between the two.

Of course, Penelope’s reveal of Marina also means that Penelope realizes she cannot shield anyone from gossip. She includes gossip about herself in the society papers, even though she risks ruining her own marriage prospects in season 3. Penelope believes she doesn’t have a choice because everyone is already talking about the scandalous nature of Colin Bridgerton trying to help her find a husband anyway. It would be suspicious if she didn’t write about herself.

Penelope also begins to use Lady Whistledown as something of a very public journal, airing her own grievances in it. As Lady Whistledown, she takes Colin to task when he first returns in season 3 because she’s still hurt by his words at the end of season two, that he would, “never dream of courting Penelope Featherington.” When he arrives back in society as someone who seems completely different and utilizes a facade of charm to hide himself from the rest of the ton, she sees right through it.

Without Penelope’s decision to bring Marina’s scandal into the light, it’s likely she wouldn’t have continued to take such bold steps in seasons 2 and 3. It’s also likely that the trajectory of Colin and Penelope’s relationship would have changed. If Colin had married Marina before the scandal broke, he would have been crushed that Penelope had never told him the truth, and his relationship with Marina would have been fractured, leading to an unhappy marriage for them.

As it stands, Colin got to move on from Marina, Marina was able to secure a husband, and Penelope was able to grow into a stronger version of Lady Whistledown as Bridgerton has continued.