Emily Blunt has suggested that her decision to apply for US citizenship was for tax reasons.

In an interview with the Sunday Times Style magazine to promote her new film Sicario, Blunt said that her decision to try for dual US/UK status was “mainly for tax reasons” but that she “didn’t want to renounce my Queen”.

Blunt was then quoted as saying: “But I felt quite sad, actually. Having to be sworn into a country that wasn’t mine. I know at the core of it I haven’t given up anything, but it was sort of bittersweet ... It was odd.”

Blunt has been at the centre of a storm since she poked fun at her newly-acquired US citizenship during an interview with the Hollywood Reporter. She had joked that, after watching the Republican presidential candidate debate on TV she thought: “This was a terrible mistake. What have I done?” After being criticised by Fox News presenter Anna Kooiman, Blunt was forced to apologise, saying on NBC’s Today programme: “It was so not the intention to hurt anybody or cause any offence, so I really apologise to those that I caused offence to.”

However, Blunt told the Guardian that her decision was primarily to ensure she was in a “more protected position”, particularly in regard to her family life. She said: “It’s simply because I live there, and have done for seven years. My husband is American, my daughter is American: I will continue to live there, and that’s where my life is. It felt better to embrace it, and it’s certainly a more protected position for me to be in.”