Bridgerton's Jessica Madsen felt proud to announce she's dating a woman

Jessica Madsen has explained why she decided to publicly announce that she is "in love with a woman".

The British actress, best known for playing Cressida Cowper in the Netflix period drama, has opened up about her recent post to celebrate Pride Month.

"In love with a woman, loud about it and proud about it!" Jessica wrote in the post, which was shared on 1 June.

In a recent interview with W Magazine, the 32-year-old actress revealed that she feels a "responsibility" to be "proud" of who she is.

"I do like to be private and feel that is incredibly important, but at the same time, I felt a responsibility to be proud and to share that," she told the publication. "My life may have been a little easier in certain ways had I seen more visibility growing up."

Jessica went on to share that she "admires" her Bridgerton co-stars Jonathan Bailey and Golda Rosheuvel, who are openly gay.

"I so admire Jonathan and Golda and it's such a beautiful, safe place that we have on the show that it's lovely to feel everybody's support, and they've all seen my journey and many different versions of me," she shared. "We've been together for five and a half years, so we're very, very close."

She added, "I was very moved by everyone's response."

Jessica publicly came out as bisexual during last year's Pride Month in June 2023.

"Bi the way.... Happy Pride month," she wrote in an Instagram post at the time.