'Divergent' actress defends sharing 'beautiful' Melania letter about Trump assassination attempt post-backlash

Actress Shailene Woodley defended sharing a statement from former First Lady Melania Trump after the assassination attempt against former President Trump, despite receiving backlash.

"I posted that letter because I thought it was a beautiful message of human compassion, and then I forgot about it because I have a life and I don’t live for what social media says," Woodley explained to Bustle in a new interview. 

The actress, perhaps best known for starring in the "Divergent" film trilogy and the HBO series "Big Little Lies," is an outspoken climate activist who was a supporter of Sen. Bernie Sanders' 2016 presidential campaign. 

Woodley said she was disturbed by the clamoring for violence she witnessed by "many" in her liberal circles after a shooter attempted to kill the former president at a rally in Butler, Pennsylvania, in July.

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"Literally, I read it and I was like, ‘This is so beautiful.' I was in circles of people that I deeply respect — friends, colleagues, progressive, very intelligent thinkers, shakers and movers — and many of them were saying, ‘He missed! F—ing assassin missed! Maybe it was a setup. Maybe it was a conspiracy.’ I was going, ‘Have we forgotten that two human lives were taken?’ Two people died. That is sad. That is devastating. I could not understand how people were speaking about something with such passion for death," the liberal actress explained.

In the statement shared by Mrs. Trump on July 14, she thanked the Secret Service agents and law enforcement who put their lives in danger to protect Trump and offered her sympathies for the victims' families. She also called for unity.

"A monster who recognized my husband as an inhuman political machine attempted to ring out Donald’s passion – his laughter, ingenuity, love of music, and inspiration. The core facets of my husband’s life – his human side – were buried below the political machine. Donald, the generous and caring man who I have been with through the best of times and the worst of times," the statement read. 

"Let us not forget that differing opinions, policy, and political games are inferior to love. Our personal, structural, and life commitment – until death – is at serious risk. Political concepts are simple when compared to us, human beings," it continued.

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Woodley said she only shared the first page of the statement to her Instagram stories, which highlighted Trump's humanity, before it became "more political."

The actress was shocked to find out from a friend that her repost had prompted a wave of media attention and backlash on social media.

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"I was like, "Oh my God, that is now this? Hundreds of articles because I posted about a woman saying she’s grateful her husband is alive? Really?" she said.

"It made me shake my head. If [who I am] is not coming through in the way that I’m intending, I’m not going to participate on social media. I participate in my own ways now that maybe are less public because I want to add to the right noise. I don’t want to add to unnecessary noise," she continued.

Woodley, who has partnered with environmental organizations, said her political beliefs are "pretty well-known."

She called the rush to judge and "cancel" people on social media "a dangerous thing."

"I’m like, d—, I do one thing that someone doesn’t understand — not even [disagrees with], doesn’t understand — and there isn’t a question of, ‘I wonder what she means by that.’ It’s an immediate, ‘Oh, she’s this type of a person,’ which is just a dangerous thing that’s happening in general these days. Instead of being inquisitive to try and dissect and discover, we pigeonhole and cancel. Man, it’s so destructive," she said.  

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