Claudia Jessie, the rebellious Bridgerton who is also rebellious in real life: she doesn’t use social media, lives on a boat, and claims to have more sex than the rest of the cast.

The actress, known for her ability to throw journalists off balance, has found, thanks to her role as Eloise, the financial security she lacked during her childhood. She is vegan, Buddhist, and, although her character in the Netflix series is allergic to romance, she has found love thanks to the show.

Claudia Jessie has become a familiar face for playing Eloise Bridgerton, the fifth daughter of a wealthy 19th-century London high society family. But the British actress’s origins are far removed from those of her character. “I’m often asked if I’d like to live in the world of Bridgerton , and I have to remind people that if I did, I’d be part of the staff,” she told The Guardian in a 2024 interview . Jessie was born in Moseley, a village of just over 5,000 inhabitants on the outskirts of Birmingham, and her home was a boat moored in the canal. “I also spent part of my childhood in a council estate in North London. It was tough. All I knew was that things were really hard. Dad wasn’t around [he left when he separated from his mother], and Mom worked as a cleaner. I have good memories of Mom and my brother, but we didn’t have any money, there were debt collectors at the door, it was awful,” she recalled.

At 36, money has ceased to be a concern for her since joining the Bridgerton universe —between late 2022 and 2024, specialized media outlets estimated her net worth at between $900,000 and $1.6 million. “I thought it was going to be awful, that I was going to get fired. It’s something that never leaves my mind,” she admitted to the British media outlet when the third season was about to premiere. But that hasn’t been the case, and she has returned to play Eloise in the fourth season of the hit series , the second part of which premieres on Netflix on February 20. The platform has also officially announced that there will be a fifth and sixth season. “I want to do this until I die, so obviously, I was happy to hear it,” she admitted in a recent interview with Elle .

In a series where the plot revolves around each character finding a husband or wife, she plays the maverick, the one who isn’t interested in marriage or lovers in general. Eloise is motivated by literature—the actress also says she’s a voracious reader—feminism, and the value of friendship far above romantic love. “This season everyone’s having sex… except Eloise,” a reporter pointed out during the promotion , in a joint interview with Jessie, Luke Newton (Colin in the series), and Hannah Dodd (Francesca). “It sounds like a personal attack,” she replied, frowning, while her colleagues laughed with the reporter. “It’s funny because in real life I have more sex than the two of them combined. Take that!” the actress quipped, unleashing laughter from the rest of the cast.

That kind of irreverent answer that throws journalists off balance is becoming her specialty. “What’s the next step in your career?” Cosmopolitan asked her . “I’m going to run for president,” she joked. “Are you as feminist and combative as Eloise Bridgerton, your character?” Woman Madame magazine asked her . “I should call my mom and ask her,” she said. “I’m not that brave, I’m a bit more malleable and much more shy. Adjoa Andoh, who plays Lady Danbury, says I’m bubbly and extroverted, but shy, so ‘shy and shouty’ would be my drag name,” she added.

Jessie is vegan, Buddhist, and only wears secondhand clothes. “I’ve volunteered with homeless charities for nine years, every Christmas. I always do,” she noted in 2022. She celebrates the growing conversation about mental health and well-being—”and I don’t mean well-being like a cucumber smoothie , but talking about it when you feel desperate”—and says she doesn’t use social media to maintain her happiness. “I always forget how amazing it is for people. I haven’t had social media since I was a teenager, simply because I’d like to preserve my mental clarity as much as possible,” she told Cosmopolitan . “Without wanting to sound too hippie , it’s given me time to look out the window and see the world a little more,” she explained to Woman Madame .

Although she’s portrayed as allergic to romance in the show, she’s the only Bridgerton family member who has found love thanks to the series. She’s been dating casting director Cole Edwards for six years, whom she met during the auditions for the role of Eloise. “I got a job and a boyfriend on the same day. It was a great day, wasn’t it?” she joked in The Guardian . She says that to win her over, all you need is to make her laugh and know how to cook pasta—”carbs and comedy”—and Edwards, according to her, fulfills both requirements perfectly. “He makes me laugh more than anyone,” she admitted in 2022, when she also shared that they watch MasterChef together at night : “It’s an amazing show.”

The experience of living on a boat as a child must not have been unpleasant for her because, after the success of the first season of Bridgerton , she told several media outlets that she had bought a houseboat. “I thought a barge would be the only way I could afford something of my own. I like adventure,” she told the British newspaper. She lives between the barge and a flat in Birmingham’s Jewellery Quarter, where she moved with Edwards and their pet, a Staffordshire Terrier. “Playing Eloise means I can financially support my family and friends, something I never thought I could do,” she confessed. Her mother cleaned the homes of her tutors as payment for the lessons Jessie received at home from age 8 to 17, and now she is proud to be able to repay her. “My mother is supportive, wonderful, and my biggest fan, and I will do everything I can to make her smile every day. I am very lucky,” she acknowledged in her interview with Woman Madame .

Before her big international breakthrough with Bridgerton , Jessie had already spent a decade working on British series such as Doctors , Casualty , and Line of Duty . More recently, she appeared in the miniseries Toxic City , with Aimee Lou Wood and Jodie Whittaker; she just landed a role as Glenn Close ‘s nemesis in Up to No Good ; and her continued presence on the period drama that made her famous is guaranteed—in fact, there’s still a season focused on Eloise’s story to come. ” I just wish they’d keep paying me for this ,” she longed for in a 2024 interview with The Guardian . And if not, she’s already quite satisfied with what she’s achieved so far: “If everything went to hell tomorrow and I died or something, well, my life would have been amazing.”