Practically Perfect in Every Way

It’s official. I want to be Cate Blanchett when I grow up.

I was already fairly certain of this fact, but after watching Lesley Stahl’s 60 Minutes interview with the Oscar winner last night, any lingering doubts I may have had completely disappeared.

Cate Blanchett is perfection. She’s beautiful. Stupidly talented. Tall. Self-deprecating. Low maintenance. Married to a normal-looking man. And has never, to my knowledge, had a nip slip.

She also appears to value her personal relationships over her career. Last year she resigned from her dream job as co-artistic director of the Sydney Theatre Company in order to mother her three boys, because apparently parenting isn’t something she and her husband, Andrew Upton, want to “outsource.”

Cate and her insourcing hubby

And recently she’s made headlines for dedicating her BAFTA win to friend Philip Seymour Hoffman, who died in February, saying, “You raised the bar continually. Phil, buddy, this is for you, you bastard. Hope you're proud." (She even makes the use of the word bastard sound classy.) She was also pictured bringing gifts to “Phil’s” children the day after his death, after having flown in from the west coast for this specific purpose.

  Cate and Philip Seymour Hoffman at the The Talented Mr. Ripley premiere in 1999.   

Unfortunately, there always has to be a hater in the group and, in this particular group, it’s Woody Allen. Allen directed Cate in her latest film Blue Jasmine, for which she won the aforementioned BAFTA, and apparently told her after her first few takes on the film that she was “awful.” Of course, Woody Allen’s not exactly known for his always impeccable judgment. On the other hand, I guess if anyone understands poor acting or acting poorly, it’s him.

As you may have noticed from the above clip, Cate is one of those rare characters that you can watch in an interview and come away liking even more. Other C/Kates might want to take note. Actually, not just C/Kates. There are quite a few people, in Hollywood especially, that could stand to learn that a little charm, class and humility go a long way.

Maybe Cate and I should teach a class.

Australia's Golden Wattle

Cate Blanchett is a very relatable woman but she also seems to get that she’s not “every woman”; that you can’t be “every woman” when you’re making 85 times more than most women – and, let’s be honest, men – make. In this respect, she appears to have a fair amount of self-awareness.

So, basically, she’s like the exact opposite of Oprah.

And I love her for that.

Obviously, though, there are also many reasons to love Cate that have very little to do with hating Oprah.

This is a woman who has made a reputation for herself as being a hard worker; a woman who has had to learn to balance work and family. Clearly she has it a lot easier than a lot of other people, but she’s still a working mom.

The term “working mother” gets thrown around a lot, and certain duchesses women are touted for somehow managing to “work” several hours a week, 2-3 times per year while also finding time to instruct their nannies on how to raise their children. Obviously acting isn’t the hardest job in the world, nor the most important (d’you hear that, Tom?), but I would argue that it’s a wee bit more strenuous and time-consuming than smiling, waving, and shaking hands for approximately 10 hours per month.

I mean, if we’re going to pick celebrities to be our role models, shouldn’t we pick someone like Cate? Someone with a personality? Someone with a strong work ethic? Someone who’s actually accomplished something?

Cate Blanchett is a real working mom. She’s a real role model. And she’s a real classy lady.

Perhaps other C/Kates should start paying attention. They might just learn something.