Angela Lansbury Addresses Backlash to Her Comments About Sexual Harassment

Angela Lansbury has followed up on her controversial claims about women needing to “sometimes take blame” for sexual harassment, saying she’s “devastated” by the backlash and interpretation of her comments.

“There is no excuse whatsoever for men to harass women in an abusive sexual manner,” she said in a statement released Wednesday evening. “And, I am devastated that anyone should deem me capable of thinking otherwise. Those who have known the quality of my work and the many public statements I have made over the course of my life, must know, that I am a strong supporter of Women’s Rights.”

Speaking to the Radio Times, the 92-year-old actress opined, “We have to own up to the fact that women, since time immemorial, have gone out of their way to make themselves attractive. And unfortunately it has backfired on us — and this is where we are today.” Lansbury did add, “Although it’s awful to say we can’t make ourselves look as attractive as possible without being knocked down and raped.”

She concluded her newly released statement by criticizing the reaction to her remarks in the Times, declaring, “Lastly, I would like to add that I am troubled by how quickly and brutishly some have taken my comments out of context and attempted to blame my generation, my age, or my mindset, without having read the entirety of what I said.”

This article originally appeared on EW.com