Cate Blanchett says she has had ‘many’ relationships with women
Oscar winning actress Cate Blanchett says she has had “many” relationships with women.
The Hollywood star made the comments in an interview with Variety about her new film ‘Carol’, based on the Patricia Highsmith novel ‘The Price of Salt’.
Blanchett’s character, an older woman in 1950s New York, has an affair with a younger woman, who is played by Rooney Mara.
Blanchett, who has been married to playwright Andrew Upton for the past 18 years, was asked whether the role was her first time as a lesbian, to which she responded “On film, or in real life?”
When asked whether she has had relationships with women in the past she said: “Yes, many times.”
Blanchett did not go into detail, but said she read 1950s literature to prepare for the role.
She said: “I read a lot of girl-on-girl books from the period. I think there are a lot of people that exist like [her character] who don’t feel the need to shout things from the rafters.”
The Highsmith novel, also published under the name ‘The Price of Salt’, was groundbreaking in its portrayal of a romance between two women.
At a time when most lesbian love stories were resigned to pulp fiction with doomed characters, the characters in ‘Carol’ are given a realistic relationship and a chance at a happy ending. The story itself, in which young department store worker Therese becomes infatuated with a wealthy wife and mother, was based on an incident in Highsmith’s own life.
