Saoirse Ronan on the ‘Amazing’ Response to Her Viral Women’s Safety Call-Out

The actress addressed the ‘Graham Norton Show’ moment in a new interview.

Saoirse Ronan / Matt Winkelmeyer/Getty Images

After appearing on an Oct. 25 episode of The Graham Norton Show, American-Irish actress Saoirse Ronan made headlines for addressing an overlooked issue alongside Paul Mescal, Eddie Redmayne and Denzel Washington. What began as a lighthearted exchange has turned into a viral moment and lesson about women’s safety.

The discussion initially began with the movie stars speaking about self-defense tactics. However, as Mescal and the others joked about hypothetical defensive moves, Ronan cut through the laughter with a blunt reminder: “That’s what girls have to think about all the time. Am I right, ladies?” The Golden Globe Award-winners’s response shifted the mood as the men on stage fell silent, though all the women in the crowd cheered, underscoring the reality that safety concerns often weigh on women far more frequently than men realize​.

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The clip, which quickly gained traction on social media, resonated with viewers who praised Ronan’s calm yet powerful stance. Many fans pointed out that she had tried to contribute to the discussion multiple times but was interrupted—a common frustration for women when discussing issues of safety.

Ronan revisited the interaction on The Ryan Tubridy Show this week, describing the intense public response as “amazing” in its ability to spark a widespread discussion about women’s safety.

“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,” the Lady Bird and Little Women star said. “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.”

When she watched the original interview back after it had gone viral, Ronan noted that it “felt very similar to 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,” she shared. “[It allows] more women to just be like, ‘Well, yeah, actually, let’s talk about our experience.'”

The 30-year-old shared how her husband, Jack Lowden, was surprised (to no fault of his own) when she explained a commonly used tactic—pretending to take a “fake phone call” in uncomfortable situations or on bad dates—as a survival strategy many women adopt without ever formally discussing it with one another.

“[Women] gain these tools without ever talking to other women about it and understanding that this is sort of a survival tactic,” Ronan continued.