Cate Blanchett has had a glittering career that has spanned three decades and seen her bag two Oscars, but we’ll never get to see one of her most demanding roles.
The Australian star, who lives in East Sussex, has revealed that the UK’s first lockdown in 2020 saw her take on a role at the request of her seven-year-old daughter Edith, which she jokingly admits was “traumatic”.
With the actor having to take on home schooling duties, Edith insisted her mum channeled her actual teacher before she’d even think about settling into the school day.
“She wouldn’t allow me at all to teach maths or do phonics unless I dressed up as her teacher and put on her teacher’s voice,” the 52-year-old told BBC News.
“I had an array of stuffed animals who also had to be taught. It wasn’t an offer I made. It was a request she made.”
However, it’s one performance that only Edith will ever be treated to after an appeal to hear a little bit of Cate in teacher mode was quickly rebuffed by the actor.
“Mrs Venables Kyrke? No. It was so traumatic for me I’ve actually put my Mrs Venables Kyrke to bed,” Cate laughed. “She was her teacher then. She’s a saint.”
However, the Don’t Look Up star’s brief dalliance with teaching all four of her children gave her a whole new level of respect for the educators of the world.
“One thing that really came home to me was just how incredible teachers are,” she said.
“That is an inherently dramatic situation where you have to stand up in front of a class of 30 often disinterested pupils and try and get them engaged in medieval history.”
The Australian star, who lives in East Sussex, has revealed that the UK’s first lockdown in 2020 saw her take on a role at the request of her seven-year-old daughter Edith, which she jokingly admits was “traumatic”.
With the actor having to take on home schooling duties, Edith insisted her mum channeled her actual teacher before she’d even think about settling into the school day.
“She wouldn’t allow me at all to teach maths or do phonics unless I dressed up as her teacher and put on her teacher’s voice,” the 52-year-old told BBC News.
“I had an array of stuffed animals who also had to be taught. It wasn’t an offer I made. It was a request she made.”
However, it’s one performance that only Edith will ever be treated to after an appeal to hear a little bit of Cate in teacher mode was quickly rebuffed by the actor.
“Mrs Venables Kyrke? No. It was so traumatic for me I’ve actually put my Mrs Venables Kyrke to bed,” Cate laughed. “She was her teacher then. She’s a saint.”
However, the Don’t Look Up star’s brief dalliance with teaching all four of her children gave her a whole new level of respect for the educators of the world.
“One thing that really came home to me was just how incredible teachers are,” she said.
“That is an inherently dramatic situation where you have to stand up in front of a class of 30 often disinterested pupils and try and get them engaged in medieval history.”
