Lady Galadriel is a mom.
No matter how many projects Cate Blanchett takes on, we'll always see her as the Elvish queen (who we hope to see in the new Lord of the Rings show), but Blanchett's kids will only see her as mom.
Blanchett met her husband, fellow Aussie, playwright, and screenwriter, Andrew Upton, in 1996, and they married in 1997. Together they have balanced their work with their home life, raising three sons, Dashiell, 18, Roman, 16, Ignatius, 12, and one adoptive daughter Edith, 5.
While winning Oscars and starring in critically acclaimed shows and movies, Blanchett always makes time for her children no matter what and tries to instill the importance of having a strong character without lecturing them. She teaches them everything she can while having fun and trying to play tricks on them too. There is a strong bond between parents and children, which is why it's so hard for Blanchett to let her babies go out into the world and fly.
Blanchett Has Instilled Great Things
Having a strong character is essential in the Blanchett-Upton household. Blanchett told Oprah magazine that it was very important to her to instill the importance of respecting women in her three boys. It was also important to instill a "sense of self-respect" in her five-year-old daughter.
"Because as a mother of sons, you have a responsibility to instill in them the need to respect and the benefits of respecting women," Blanchett told Glamour in 2017. "That hasn’t changed. But what's never been more important is the necessity to impart in young girls a sense of self-respect, a sense of having expectations, and a right to achieving quality. And of course, having a young daughter now, one becomes more acute on a daily basis. I wake up to a reminder of that responsibility to lead by example."
While trying to raise them to have strong characters, Blanchett has had fun raising her kids and even tried to trick them once. Tried being the keyword. When Blanchett's husband wanted to get some baby pigs, the actress saw it as an opportunity to trick her kids into becoming vegetarians. If they fell in love with the pigs, they wouldn't want to eat meat. Except Blanchett underestimated her children's love for bacon, so it didn't quite work.
"The kids were just totally fine with that, and I was horrified. My plan to turn my family vegetarian was a monumental failure," Blanchett told Interview magazine. Blanchett and her husband had taught their kids to be tough, and it backfired on them.
Now She Can't Deal With Her Oldest Flying The Nest
Blanchett has confessed to watching her kids while they sleep. She can't help herself. She wants the memory of them safe and sound under her roof to last forever, which is why she also didn't hold back from taking some snapshots of them during their slumber as kids.
When her oldest, Dashiell, was about to turn 18, she felt compelled to revisit his childhood by looking at photos of him when he was a baby.
"It’s a big moment when you can feel them taking a very big step away from you," she said.
It got worse when he was gearing up to go to college. Last year, when Dashiell was about to leave home for school, Blanchett confessed she was finding it difficult to cope.
When asked about her son's plans for college, Blanchett said, "Do you want to see me cry? It is truly a huge event. Sometimes I get asked what is the most difficult thing for a parent ... I think it's letting them go, being able to do it. My mother often told me - and I regularly rolled my eyes - 'You will always be my child, I'm sorry, I don't want to treat you like this but ...'. Now I understand perfectly what she meant. It is difficult to break away, very difficult, but I am so proud of my son. Of all of my kids, to be honest."
If she finds she's not happy missing him, her solution is to replace him with a dog.
"Now that my son is 18, and I wonder what I will do. 'Dashiell no longer needs me,' I say to myself. And then I think, 'No, he will always need his mother.' It is up to us to redefine the relationship we have with our children and allow them to grow up, to become adults. If not, we'll get another dog!"
Blanchett knows that her household isn't perfect, especially with having four kids and working as much as she does, but in a way, she likes that "chaos." She sometimes chose to turn down some projects throughout her career because she didn't want her kids to be raised by anyone else but herself.
Despite all of the chaos in the family, Blanchett credits her kids for always giving her hope, even during these challenging times. They keep her positive.
"What brings me hope? Look, it sounds cliché, but my kids. I think having children, you’ve got to look at solutions and opportunity. You have to see the opportunity even in the most negative situations because the future is rolling rapidly towards us, and my kids are being propelled into that future," she said.
It sounds like Blanchett and her husband have raised some truly great kids, so she shouldn't really dread them going out into the world by themselves. She's prepared them well enough, and they know who'll always have their backs if something goes wrong. All Blanchett has to do is give them the Light of Eärendil, the Elvish people's most beloved star, so it may be a light for them in dark places, "when all other lights go out."