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. The Beauty And The Beast and Murder, She Wrote star came under fire this week, after people took umbrage at comments she made that stated that women are in some part complicit for making themselves attractive to men who sexually harass or assault them. "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.” Lansbury’s remarks—which included statements like, “We have to own up to the fact that women, since time immemorial, have gone out of their way to make themselves attractive,” and “We must sometimes take blame, women. I really do think that”—were part of a wider conversation in which she also stated that there was no excuse for a man to harm a woman.
– After Angela Lansbury said this week that women need to "sometimes take the blame" for sexual misconduct because they make themselves attractive to men, the backlash was fast and forceful. "It is a deeply unhelpful myth that rape and other forms of sexual violence are caused or 'provoked' by women's sexuality or 'attractiveness,'" ABC News quotes Rape Crisis England & Wales as saying. Actress Patricia Arquette added: "It doesn't matter how young or old, how beautiful or homely. Rapists rape. End of story." Lansbury has now responded to her critics. "There is no excuse whatsoever for men to harass women in an abusive sexual manner," Entertainment Weekly quotes the 92-year-old Murder She Wrote star as saying. "And, I am devastated that anyone should deem me capable of thinking otherwise." Lansbury says she's "a strong supporter of women's rights" and is "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." To which the AV Club quips: "Welcome to the internet, Dame Angela."