Saoirse Ronan has finally spoken out about her powerful appearance on The Graham Norton Show, which quickly went viral after a candid moment left audiences in awe.
During the episode, the actress stunned her fellow guests and viewers with her direct comment on the issue of self-defence, sparking conversations across social media.
Speaking to Ryan Tubridy on Virgin Radio UK on Wednesday morning, Saoirse: “The reaction has been wild. It’s definitely not something that I had expected, and I didn’t necessarily set out to sort of make a splash.
“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.”
The Irish-American actress brought the all-male panel – which included Denzel Washington, Paul Mescal, Eddie Redmayne and host Graham Norton – to a respectful silence as she highlighted the serious issue of violence against women. Watch the clip below…
“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,” she added.
“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.”
She continued: “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%.”
© AlamySaoirse then went on to address her friendship with Paul, whom she has been friends with for many years. “Paul being one of my very dear friends” she explained. “I’ve had conversations like that with him before and he completely gets that and completely understands that.
“I think the fact that there was a moment like that 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.
“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.”
© GettyRecalling a chat she had with someone talking about the topic of self-defence recently, Saorise continued: “I met a woman last night who’s working on Blitz, 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.
“We’ve all sort of like subconsciously found the same tools and use them again and again and I find that really interesting.”
During the appearance on the BBC chat show on Friday, The Day of the Jackal actor Eddie recounted being told to use his phone as a weapon while learning self-defence. Unimpressed, actor Paul laughed off the idea and said: “Who is actually going to think about that?”
But Saoirse was quick to respond with: “That’s what girls have to think about all the time.” The blunt remark was met with a huge round of applause from the audience.