Actress Saoirse Ronan has claimed she didn't 'set out to make a splash' when she pulled The Graham Norton Show co-star Paul Mescal on a controversial violence comment he made on Friday night's episode.
During their appearance on the hit talk-show on 25 October, the conversation turned to special combat after their co-panellist Eddie Redmayne recalled being trained to use his mobile phone as a weapon for a new role in Sky's incoming assassin thriller The Day of the Jackal.
After Redmayne explained that he was shown how to jab an attacker in the neck, Mescal, 28, seemingly attempted to make a joke, claiming he'd never think to whip out his phone if under attack.
"Who is actually going to think about that?" Mescal asked. "If someone actually attacked me, I’m not going to go 'phone'."
Despite audience members initially laughing off the comment, Ronan - the only woman on the famous red sofa - made a pointed remark about women's need to know self-defence.
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"That’s what girls have to think about all the time," the 31-year-old actress said at the time, leaving both Redmayne and Mescal - whom she previously starred alongside in Prime Video thriller Foe - silent.
"Am I right, ladies?" the actress added following a brief pause, after which she was met with round of applause - as well as millions of praising comments online from at-home viewers.
Now, speaking to Virgin Radio UK today, Ronan has expressed her shock when it came to fans' responses.
"The reaction has been wild," she explained." It's definitely not something that I had expected, and I didn't necessarily set out to sort of make a splash.
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"But I do think there's something really telling about the society that we're in right now and about how open women want to be with the men in their lives."
She continued: "So many men and women that I know from all over the world have gotten in touch with me about this one comment, which is, again, I would urge people, please, please, please to watch this in context.
"Please watch the whole interview or watch at least that part of the conversation, because it really wasn't about… the boys weren't sort of like debunking anything that I was saying.
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"But at the same time, it felt very similar to like when I am at dinner with a bunch of my friends and I will always make the point that, well, this is actually an experience that we go through every single day, 100 percent."
Ronan then clarified: "Paul being one of my very dear friends, I've had conversations like that with him before and he completely gets that and completely understands that but I think the fact that there was a moment like that that happened on a show like Graham Norton, which is something that the entire nation channels and to watch and even overseas, it's something that people tune into, it seems to have had an accessibility which seems to have really gained traction, which I think is amazing."
The Lovely Bones star added: "It's opening a conversation and again, hopefully it's allowing more and more women to just be like, well, yeah, actually, let's talk about our experience.
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"I met a woman last night who's working on Blitz [her incoming war drama], and she said that, you know, it's really interesting, after we watched that interview, myself and a few of my female friends were with my husband and we said, you know, this really reminds me of the fake phone call.
"And her husband went, what, fake phone call? What do you mean? And of course, you wouldn’t understand if you’ve not had to go through anything like that.
"But she somehow, throughout her life as a female, has gained these tools without ever talking to other women about it and understanding that this is sort of a survival tactic."
Tyla contacted Paul Mescal's representatives on his original comment.
Topics: Celebrity, Paul Mescal, US News, UK News, TV And Film
Rhianna Benson