She’s the Australian star who has been widely regarded as one of the greatest actresses of her generation, but remarkably, Cate Blanchett has been able to keep her family life out of the spotlight.
A devoted wife of more than 25 years and loving mother to four children, the 55-year-old has won just about every award that one can be presented within her craft.
Despite this and her worldwide fame, the Oscar-winner has dedicated much of her time to protecting the privacy of her personal relationships, as well as what life looks like within the Blanchett-Upton household.
Who is Cate Blanchett’s husband?
Cate Blanchett has been married to Australian playwright, screenwriter, producer, and director Andrew Upton since March 1997.
The couple met earlier that same year at the Belvoir St Theatre in Sydney where Cate had a starring role in a production of The Seagull.
While the pair didn’t initially hit it off, from the moment they had their first kiss at a late-night poker game, there was no doubt they were meant to be together.
In fact, just three weeks later, Andrew proposed to Cate and the couple married on December 29, 1997, in the Blue Mountains – less than two years since they first crossed paths.
Reflecting upon their initial impressions of one another in a 1999 interview with Vanity Fair, Cate said that Andrew thought she was “aloof” and she thought he “arrogant.”
“It just shows you how wrong you can be,” she lamented at the time.
“He’s one of the few grounded people I know whose head is in the stars. He’s able to stretch between the sky and the earth. Those people are very rare,” she candidly added.
In a later interview with E! News, Cate went on to describe her marriage as both a “great creative partnership and also a great love affair.”
The husband and wife duo also own their own production company Dirty Films, where they collaborate on various TV and film projects.
Does Cate Blanchett have any kids?
Cate Blanchett and Andrew Upton share four beautiful children together, who according to Cate are “disinterested” in her career – but in the “best possible, healthiest way.”
“Certainly my children do not want to be ‘the son of’, and I know that my feisty daughter will not want to be ‘the daughter of,” the Oscar winner told Harper’s Bazaar in 2018.
They’ve lived a life largely out of the spotlight of their parents, but have made occasional public appearances alongside their famous mum and dad.
Speaking with the Daily Mirror in 2011, The Lords of the Rings star said that she and Andrew fostered a “loving” home environment for their children.
“I don’t enjoy being the bad cop, but sometimes I have to be. My husband and I worry about our generation trying to be friends with their children rather than parents of their children.”
Cate also says that she hopes to instill the same feminist values she holds dear within her boys.
“As a mother of sons, you have a responsibility to instill in them the need to respect and the benefits of respecting women,” she shared with Glamour in 2017.
Dashiell John Upton, 22
As the oldest child, it comes as no surprise that Dash has spent more time in the spotlight than his siblings.
More recently, it was revealed that the 22-year-old worked as a production assistant on Ryan Gosling’s The Fall Guy which was filmed over five months at various locations around Sydney.
As part of the gig, the movie buff helped out the cinematography department and helped to capture stills from the set and behind-the-scenes promotional content.
Dash graduated from film school in late 2022, with his mother previously sharing with Italian publication iO Donna that she was “so proud” of her eldest for pursuing his dreams.
Shortly after production wrapped on the film, Dash also made a rare red appearance with his mother at the Cannes Film Festival in April 2023 at the premiere of Killers of the Flower Moon.
Roman Robert Upton, 20
After being welcomed into the world on April 23, 2004, Roman has rarely been photographed with his mother or siblings.
He has however attended several red carpets over the years including at the Critic’s Choice Awards in 2014 and the IWC Schaffhausen at SIHH in Switzerland in 2018.
In December 2020 during an appearance on Jimmy Kimmel Live!, Cate revealed that legendary filmmaker Roman Polanski, the former spouse of murdered actress Sharon Tate, inspired the name of her son.
Ignatius Martin Upton, 16
While Ignatius (also known by Iggy) hasn’t been photographed alongside his parents in public for six years, his mother has shed light on her son in various interviews.
In fact, Cate even revealed the hilarious inspiration behind his name after she and Andrew had “ran out of ideas.”
“I was eight months pregnant and hallucinating, and there’s a section in the book where he gets so upset that everyone teases him because his name is Professor Pee-Poo Poopypants that he forces the world to change their names,” she explained in an interview with late-night talk show host Jimmy Kimmel.
“They have this interior code, and they give these examples of names. You go down to ‘I’ and the example is Ignatius. It was like the Virgin Mary going ‘Boom!'”
Shortly after his birth, Cate reflected on how it felt to be a ‘boy mum.’
“Having boys is great. It’s a neat position to be in and I love the high energy that comes along in raising boys. It’s fun,” the actress shared with PEOPLE.
While it’s unclear whether ‘Iggy’ will follow in parents footsteps, he did make a brief appearance as a member of a crowd in Thor: Ragnarok in 2017.
Edith Vivian Patricia Upton, 9
The Blanchett-Upton family was completed in March 2015 with the adoption of little Edith, who was just six months old when she was given a new set of parents and siblings.
“I find it extraordinary, glimpsing them becoming a unit. And a very welcoming unit,” Cate said of her sons’ close bond with their little sister in an interview with the Sydney Morning Herald at the time.
“I’m very proud of them,” she added.
While Cate and Andrew had first discussed adopting a child after the birth of their first son Dashiell in 2001, their plans “dropped off the radar” with the arrival of a second, and then a third child.
But finally, in 2015, the timing was right.
“There are a lot of children out there who don’t have the good fortune that our biological children do, so it’s wonderful to welcome a little girl into our fold – we’re besotted,” Cate shared at a panel in 2015.
“I felt we had space, enough emotional room in our hearts, and we’re privileged enough to have the capacity to have another child, so it wasn’t about biology,” she added.
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