Saoirse Ronan Is Glad Her Viral Comment About Violence Against Women Is 'Opening a Conversation,' Defends 'Dear Friend' Paul Mescal

Saoirse Ronan has no regrets when it comes to her viral comment about women facing violent threats every day.

On the Friday, October 25, episode of The Graham Norton Show, the actress shut down fellow guests Paul Mescal, Denzel Washington and Eddie Redmayne when they started joking about how a cell phone could be used for self-defense.

While on Virgin Radio U.K. a few days later, the Ladybird star, 30, noted the global reaction to her remark has been "wild," admitting, "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," Ronan explained.

The blonde beauty clarified that her words weren't meant to shame the actors, spilling, "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."

Ronan noted the actors weren't "debunking" what she was saying, "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."

The movie star noted that Mescal, 28, is one of her "very dear friends," and she's had "conversations like that with him before and he completely gets that and completely understands" despite his joke.

Ronan is glad her comment "gained traction" around the world, sharing, "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."

The incident went down when Redmayne, 42, was discussing the self-defense techniques he learned to play an assassin in The Day of the Jackal, with one of them being "how you can use your phone if someone’s attacking you."

Mescal quipped in response with a laugh, "Who is actually going to think about that? If someone attacks me, I’m not gonna go, ‘Phone!’"

The other men laughed and agreed, to which Ronan stated, "That’s what girls have to think about all the time."

"Am I right, ladies?" she added as the crowd cheered her on.

Daily Mail reported on Ronan's response to her words going viral.