Florence Pugh 'scared' by people's reaction to her bare nipples on red carpet

After Florence Pugh donned a sheer pink gown to a Valentino Haute Couture event last year, she questioned why people are 'so scared of breasts?'.

And her body, in general, has been a topic of conversation after her nude scene in Oppenheimer was edited for the film's release in the Middle East and India.

Pugh plays psychiatrist and physician Jean Tatlock, who had a relationship with J. Robert Oppenheimer - played by Peaky Blinders' Cillian Murphy.

The scene in question sees Oppenheimer sat across from naked Communist Party member Tatlock, who is reclining in a chair as they converse.

In the unedited version, the actor is topless in the chair during the scene.

However, in a version of the film shown in India and the Middle East, Pugh is seen wearing a strapless black dress while she sits in the chair.

In a recent interview with Elle magazine, the actor says she would 'would much rather lay it all out' than 'trying to hide the cellulite on my thigh or the squidge in between my arm and my boob'.

Universal Pictures

"I think the scariest thing for me are the instances where people have been upset that I’ve shown 'too much' of myself, she said.

"When everything went down with the Valentino pink dress a year ago, my nipples were on display through a piece of fabric, and it really wound people up.

"It’s the freedom that people are scared of the fact I’m comfortable and happy.

"Keeping women down by commenting on their bodies has worked for a very long time.

"I think we’re in this swing now where lots of people are saying, 'I don’t give a s**t.'"

Vittorio Zunino Celotto/Getty Images

She said people have 'become so terrified of the human body that we can’t even look at my two little cute nipples behind fabric in a way that isn’t sexual'.

"We need to keep reminding everybody that there is more than one reason for women’s bodies [to exist]," she added.

Last year, Pugh responded to criticism of her Valentino dress, saying on Instagram: "I was excited to wear it, not a wink of me was nervous. I wasn’t before, during or even now after.

"What’s been interesting to watch and witness is just how easy it is for men to totally destroy a woman’s body, publicly, proudly, for everyone to see. You even do it with your job titles and work emails in your bio..?

"It isn’t the first time and certainly won’t be the last time a woman will hear what’s wrong with her body by a crowd of strangers, what’s worrying is just how vulgar some of you men can be."