Cate Blanchett Says Her Sons Are Her Secret Stylists

Courtesy InStyle Australia

Life is full of surprises! What was slated to be a normal interview for the June issue of InStyle Australia started off with a bang for Cate Blanchett: her 13-month-old son Ignatius ‘Iggy’ Martin is officially mobile! “Do you know Iggy just walked four steps … my baby, walking … it’s incredible!” she boasted to the magazine. Fortunately, the latest milestone will not only be celebrated by Cate’s husband Andrew Upton and their two sons Dashiell John, 7 ½, and Roman Robert, 5, but also the couple’s extended family as well, all due to their move back to their native Australia.

After nine years spent in England, Cate and Andrew alike felt strong homesick pangs after the birth of their second son and soon began contemplating the big move. As the two longed for their families back in Australia, a unique job opportunity presented itself — Cate was offered a position as joint director of the Sydney Theatre Company — only solidifying their feelings and quickly leading the family to pack their bags and head home! According to Cate, the perfect timing of the whole situation was less than coincidental.

“To step away from the offer would have been cowardice. And yes, it coincided with a desire to come back for family reasons. I think that’s often the way with right decisions.”

That said, while Cate is certainly reaping the benefits of her job, so are her three boys! “They come to the theatre all the time,” the proud mama reveals. The frequent visits are taking effect as her sons love none other than to dig into their “big costume box” stashed at their home and, not unlike most boys their age, take on the life of their favorite characters. “Like every single boy on the planet, they’re into superhero and superhero costumes,” Cate reveals.

From the playroom to their mama’s closet, the 40-year-old actress admits she can often be seen sporting outfits put together with a touch of love from her oldest son. While she laughs that as a mom of three she often finds herself wearing “the same thing three days in a row,” that doesn’t seem to stop Dashiell from digging through her racks of clothes to produce his masterpiece!

“They also love to help me pack my suitcases when I’m going overseas. And Dash, our eldest son, will often say, ‘Can I choose what you’re going to wear?’ So he will then choose what I wear before I go out.”

Click below to read about Cate’s son’s personalities and if she would like more children.
While the trio may delight in playing dress-up, Cate is determined to let each boy grow into their own distinct personality. “They develop very differently,” she notes of her sons. “There’s a large part of them — even from when they feed as newborns and the way they sleep as newborns, the way they’re born — that are latent, early manifestations of their personality.” Although she defends the nature side of the great nurture versus nature debate, Cate equally insists that a parent’s responsibility includes walking the fine line between fostering a child’s strong sense of self all the while keeping them grounded.

“You want to encourage and help them develop, but most importantly not to screw them up.”

With her boys growing older, Cate has begun to see similar sibling traits among her children that she shares with both her brother and sister, characteristics, she says, were most likely passed on to the family by her late father. Only 10-years-old when her father died of a heart attack, Cate admits the uncertainty at the root of her memories often leaves her feeling a bit unsettled. “I look at my own children and I had this thought the other day, actually. Our eldest son is seven and soon to be eight; my sister was eight when my father died,” she shares.

“And I think to myself, ‘He’s so little,’ and it’s a very humbling and quite tragic realization to think that if I were to die now, he’s seven and he would have no conscious memory of me at all … that’s sad.”

Despite the couple’s busy schedules, Cate is not discounting the possibility of more children — in fact, according to her, she would “love” to expand her family further! The only question, she says, is when her wishes will come true. “The thing is we hadn’t planned any of the others, they just popped out,” she shares. “So you shouldn’t over-plan these things. If it happens, it would be great.”

Source: InStyle Australia; June issue

– Anya