Saoirse Ronan speaks out on viral and impactful Graham Norton moment

Paul Mescal went on to question: "Who is actually going to think about that? If someone actually attacked me, I’m not going to go 'phone'."

Mescal, Redmayne and fellow guest Denzel Washington, along with Norton, started laughing, with Redmayne calling it "a very good point".

However, Ronan then added: "That's what girls have to think about all the time." The guests and Norton all went quiet and admitted "yeah", before Ronan turned to the audience and asked: "Am I right, ladies?"

Ronan has now responded to the viral moment when speaking with Ryan Tubridy on Virgin Radio UK on Wednesday 30th October, saying: "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.

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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.

"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.

"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 per cent."

Speaking about Mescal, Ronan said: "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 tunes in 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.

"I met a woman last night who's working on Blitz [Ronan's new film], 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.

"And we've all sort of, like, subconsciously found the same tools, and use them again and again, and I find that really interesting."

The Graham Norton Show continues on BBC One on Friday 1st November at 10:40pm.

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