Katherine Ryan has weighed in on Leonardo DiCaprio's dating controversies

Katherine Ryan has said she is more than happy to be the "poster woman" for speaking out about older men "dating teenagers" – and doesn't find her opinions controversial at all.

The comedian has previously spoken about Leonardo DiCaprio's so-called dating preferences, in that he only appears to date women under the age of 26. In the past, Ryan acknowledged that while it's not a "crime", she believes it's a "creepy pattern."

She tweeted at the time: "Not enough people are talking about Leonardo DiCaprio who is almost 50 - and 'getting close' to a 19 year old teenage girl."

Now, in a conversation with MailOnline, the attention turned to former TOWIE star James Argent, 35, who is currently dating Stella Turian, 18.

"I don’t care at all about backlash or cancel culture," she told the outlet. "I do care about hurting people’s feelings, believe it or not."

"I know that James Argent has had some rough times and I don’t want to heap criticism on someone who’s vulnerable.

"But at the end of the day, I have somehow become the poster woman for rallying against grown men, powerful men, famous men dating teenagers.

"I didn’t choose that life, that life chose me.

"I don’t think it's controversial to say that’s gross or weird and I’m very happy to continue beating that drum for as long as it takes."

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She said that the backlash tends to come from men in her DMs who she said hit back with remarks such as "‘Oh sorry he’d rather date a Ferrari than an old banger and he doesn’t want you.’"

Ryan continued: "But I’m not speaking to the men at all because I understand that there are a lot of people that find that age group attractive - I’m not going to solve that problem.

"I’m speaking to the young women because I happen to have the ear of a lot of teenage girls and young women.

"I look out at my audience and I have people my age, I have couples but I also have a lot of teenagers so even if one of them hears what I’m saying and goes, ‘Ew maybe that man is interested in me because he wants to boss me around or because women his age don’t talk to him, maybe I will give that a miss.'"

She joked: "I’m basically Leonardo DiCaprio trying to get to as many young women as I can."

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