Saoirse Ronan caught 'off guard' by viral Graham Norton clip: 'Weight that is put on every young woman'

"The older I've gotten, the more I've felt that it's just really important that we are communicating that to guys who just don't have to think about that."

Saoirse Ronan says she was caught "off guard" by a clip of her on the The Graham Norton Show going viral last week.

While speaking to Entertainment Weekly in a new episode of the Awardist podcast about producing and starring in The Outrun, as well as starring in Blitz, Ronan reflected on the small but popular comment she made during an appearance on the talk show with Denzel Washington, Paul Mescal, and Eddie Redmayne and how it perfectly summed up the entire experience of being a woman.

"It really has caught me off guard, honestly," Ronan, 30, said. "I came away from filming Graham the other day and I was like, 'I don't think I did a great job... I should have said this or I should have said that.' And a few days after it came out, a few of my friends were like, 'The phone comment! Everyone's talking about the phone comment.'"

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The "phone comment" came about after Redmayne said he was told while learning stunts for his new TV show The Day of the Jackal that he could use his phone as a self-defense weapon if attacked. Mescal then made a joke about how he'd never think to use his phone if being attacked. All the men onstage laughed, but Ronan silenced them with one comment: "That's what girls have to think about all the time. Am I right, ladies?" The audience cheered for her, and the clip went viral online with people praising Ronan for highlighting how women's experiences are vastly different when it comes to that.

"First of all, what I would say to anyone though, is please watch it in context," Ronan told EW. "There was a story that was being spoken about by the boys before that really had nothing to do with violence on women, or nobody was overlooking that by any means. So I really want to make that point."

Ronan added that "those are the kind of conversations" that she has with everyone in her life, regardless of gender. "The older I've gotten, the more I've kind of felt that it's just really important that we are communicating that to guys who just don't have to think about that, through no fault of their own," she said. "But I think it's really important that, as we are becoming the next generation to take charge of society in a way, and some of us are going to have kids and some of us are going to have daughters, that this is a weight that is put on every single young woman, every woman on the planet. One-hundred percent. There is no doubt about that."

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The actor/producer went on to explain how "it's very important that we feel that we can talk about what our experience is like, the good and the bad, as women."

Ronan added, "So that's what that was, I guess. And it was interesting, because there was a lull in the room, but then the response in the studio kind of made me go, 'Oh yeah, this is something that is important to speak about, for sure."

It can be something as small as a man passing a woman on the sidewalk late at night, where the man may not realize the woman has to be on high alert in case of attack. That's something Ronan hopes everyone thinks about more moving forward.

"It's one of those things where it's sort of unavoidable for both parties," Ronan said. "But I think the fact that we have young men in this day and age that are actually aware of it, and vocalizing that and us having a conversation about it, that's so important. That's so important for us to know that there are people out there who are sensitive to that, because it really is something that you carry around with you the majority of the time."

Ronan hopes everyone, men and women alike, have more conversations about this topic. "And just what the ripple effects of that can be on how you hold yourself, the kind of state you're in when you leave the house," she added. "Sometimes it's not as simple as just getting in a flap about something, but it's because there's all of these things that are sort of subconsciously going on in your head. I think it's necessary to have the conversation calmly and in a respectful way."

Watch the clip of Ronan on The Graham Norton Show below:

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—Reporting by Gerrad Hall.