Saoirse Ronan breaks her silence on her awkward exchange with Paul Mescal as she 'urges more women to speak out'

Saoirse Ronan has broken her silence on the ‘wild’ reaction to her awkward exchange with Paul Mescal on The Graham Norton Show.

The actress set social media alight during Friday’s appearance on the show when she made a remark about gender-based violence while sat alongside an otherwise all-male panel of Paul, Denzel Washington and Eddie Redmayne.

But speaking to Ryan Tubridy on Virgin Radio UK, Saoirse admitted the reaction ‘wasn’t something she expected,’ before going onto ‘urge more women to speak out’.

She said: ‘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.

‘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%.

‘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 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. 

‘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.

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

Saoirse sparked a viral frenzy when she made a quip about self-defence alongside the all-male panel of guests, having minutes earlier appeared to shut down Paul for laughing while she spoke to Graham.

During the Graham Norton interview, Eddie, 42, explained that amid his training for The Day of the Jackal, an upcoming Peacock miniseries, he received instruction on how to use a phone to retaliate in the event of an attack.

Paul then joked: ‘Who is actually going to think about that? If someone actually attacked me, I’m not going to go ‘phone.”

Graham mimicked holding a phone to fend off an assailant, saying, ‘Can you hold on a second?’ to which Eddie said, ‘That’s a very good point.’

Having been talked over in the chat, Saoirse finally found a moment to speak and declared: ‘That’s what girls have to think about all the time.’

The brutally honest comment prompted a moment of silence from the panel.

‘Am I right, ladies?’ she then asked the crowd, eliciting a huge round of applause from the studio audience.

It comes after Paul also gave his first interview since appearing on the BBC show while walking the red carpet at the Gladiator II Australian premiere in Sydney. 

In the Gladiator sequel, Paul takes on the role of Roman Empire Lucius Verus, the grown-up son of Lucilla, portrayed as a child in the Oscar-winning original from 2000 starring Russell Crowe.

He was asked by 9Honey about a comment Denzel made on The Graham Norton Show, saying that Paul had ‘delivered’ with his performance in the new movie.

Paul replied: ‘I’m totally comfortable saying this but I got absolutely emotional when he [Denzel] said that.’ 

He continued: ‘Because he’s just been both so generous with his talent, his performance in the film is just extraordinary but he’s been totally paternal in a non-condescending way entirely on this press tour.

‘And to get that from somebody who is so fundamentally talented is so, it feels incredibly generous and kind.’

Paul was not asked directly about the moment with Saoirse. 

So what exactly happened on The Graham Norton Show and why did Paul and Saoirse become the centre of the conversation?

SAOIRSE SAYS ‘I’LL INTERRUPT YOU THERE’

The programme got off to a lively start as Eddie joked that Graham was pleased to have his ‘favourite line-up ever’. 

Graham then pointed out that Paul was on good terms with everyone on the sofa, asking about his ‘good friendship’ with Saoirse. 

As the pair began talking over each other to tell the story, Saoirse joked: ‘I’ll interrupt and then Paul says ‘you just say it then”, before explaining: ‘You and my husband [actor Jack Lowden] became bromance buddies online.’ 

Paul added: ‘Jack sent me a very nice message when Normal People came out and I fangirled over Jack. Then I met Saoirse and we worked together, played husband and wife and now we’re best pals.’ 

Saoirse was quick to add: ‘and we’re neighbours, neighbours in Cork!’ with Graham quick to jump in and joke that they must never spend any time back in Ireland.

Paul and Denzel were on the show to talk about Gladiator II and once they had finished, the pair swapped sides so that Paul could sit next to his good friend Saoirse and give her a hug

SAOIRSE TELLS PAUL ‘DON’T LAUGH’ 

Yet it was clear Paul was in high spirits and just wanting to joke around when it came to Saoirse promoting her new film, Blitz, with Graham warning: ‘Paul behave, because Saoirse’s up now.’

Yet his warning went unheeded, with Paul later unable to control his giggles when Saoirse was being interviewed.

The men on the panel had been discussing undergoing physical transformations for roles, with Graham soon turning the attention to Saoirse. 

He asked about the training regime for her titular role in 2011 action thriller Hanna, where she plays a young girl raised to be an assassin by her ex-CIA operative father (Eric Bana).

As a picture of Saoirse in the film flashed up on screen, the boys instantly burst into laughter, prompting the actress to warn: ‘don’t laugh.’ 

Pointing at the picture, Paul continued to chuckle and remarked: ‘just look at her!’ as Saoirse continued: ‘That is a cult classic, she’s just shot a deer…’

Interrupting her, Paul laughed, ‘of course’, as Saoirse warned again, ‘stop laughing Paul…’

SAOIRSE SAYS ‘YOU’VE HAD YOUR TIME TALKING’ 

Trying to change the subject, Graham asked Paul: ‘Have you seen Hanna? It’s a really good film!’ and the Normal People star confessed he hadn’t. 

As Saoirse went to speak again, Paul jumped in by joking: ‘I want to go as you for Halloween!’ prompting a visibly irked Saoirse to point out: ‘Ok, you’ve had your time talking.’

Making light of the tension, Denzel, 69, began shrinking into his seat and quipped: ‘Somehow I knew to back up!’ as Saoirse insisted: ‘nah, nah, nah, we love each other.’

SAORISE SHUTS DOWN JOKES ABOUT VIOLENCE 

The tense moment happened just minutes before Saoirse stunned the men into silence with her comment on gender-based violence. 

During the chat, Eddie, 42, explained that amid his training for The Day of the Jackal, an upcoming Peacock miniseries, he received instruction on how to use a phone to retaliate in the event of an attack.

A guffawing Paul then joked: ‘Who is actually going to think about that? If someone actually attacked me, I’m not going to go ‘phone.”

Giggling Graham mimicked holding a phone to fend off an assailant, saying, ‘Can you hold on a second?’ to which Eddie said, ‘That’s a very good point.’

Having been talked over in the chat, Saoirse finally found a moment to speak and declared: ‘That’s what girls have to think about all the time.’

The brutally honest comment prompted a moment of silence from the panel.

‘Am I right, ladies?’ she then asked the crowd, eliciting a huge round of applause from the studio audience.

BUT THEY ARE THE BEST OF FRIENDS 

While Saoirse and Paul had an awkward interaction on the show, there is no bad blood between the pair. 

In fact, the Irish actors are good friends after starring together in 2023 sci-fi film, Foe, where they played a married couple.

During the promo tour for the film, Saoirse explained how the role had brought them closer together, sharing: ‘We knew each other sort of in passing before, just through friends.

‘We’ve become very, very close since making the film. We’re genuine friends; we’re not Hollywood friends.’

Meanwhile, Paul said of his co-star: ‘Saoirse is the most prepared actor I’ve ever worked with. There’s no tiredness. She’s also now a really good pal of mine.’

Saoirse is currently promoting her war drama film Blitz, which is slated to be released in theaters November 1 before streaming on Apple TV+ November 22.

The movie also stars Elliott Heffernan, Harris Dickinson, Benjamin Clémentine, Kathy Burke, Paul Weller and Stephen Graham.

Blitz, written and directed by Steven McQueen, ‘follow the stories of a group of Londoners during the events of the British capital bombing in World War II,’ a logline for the film reads.

Saoirse portrays a woman named named Rita who is raising her son George, nine, (Heffernan) amid the tumultuous time.