Shailene Woodley Defends Sharing Melania Trump's Letter After Donald's Assassination Attempt

Shailene Woodley's defending herself against the backlash she received for sharing Melania Trump’s statement following the attempted assassination of Donald Trump ... admitting she's baffled by how folks can wish death on someone -- no matter how controversial they are.

The actress told Bustle she shared the first page of Melania's letter back in July on social media because she found it a beautiful reminder that, beneath Trump’s political drama, he’s still a human, with kids and grandkids -- and wishing for his death is not compassionate.

She explained, "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.'"

Shailene recalled ... "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 "Big Little Lies" star explained she didn’t share the second page of the former First Lady's statement because it was more political ... casually adding she forgot about the post altogether, because she has "a life" and doesn’t "live for what social media says."

It wasn’t until a friend texted her, asking if she was OK, that Shailene Googled herself and realized her post didn’t sit well with people. She says it really bugged her that folks were mad just because she was thankful Melania’s husband survived.