Plastic surgery isn’t for me

Actress Cate Blachett is an icon of the silver screen - and now she’s spoken out about Botox. How very refreshing, says Georgina Wilson
She has, at one time or another, been Queen Elizabeth I (for which she won a Bafta in Elizabeth), Katharine Hepburn (for which she won an Oscar in The Aviator), Indiana Jones's nemesis (in Kingdom Of The Crystal Skull) and even Bob Dylan (in I'm Not There). She has starred in seven films that have been nominated for Best Picture Oscars, featured on an Australian postage stamp, been a model and appeared among Time magazine's 100 Most Influential People In The World. Oh, and she's mother to three children.

And now she's spoken out in favour of natural beauty. Botox and facelifts, it seems, just aren't for her. In fact, Blanchett is, in her own words, 'very old-fashioned' when it comes to things like that.

 

 

94811709'There's been a decade of people doing interventions on their faces and their bodies, and now people are seeing that [in the] long term, it's not so great,' she said in a recent interview with Fashionetc.com. 'I'm not standing on a soapbox telling women what they should and shouldn't do. I just know what works for me. I'd just be too frightened about what it means long term.

'Looking at women in their 20s doing this stuff, in the end all you see is the work. It doesn't fill me with admiration; it fills me with pity.' Instead, she relies on SK-II skin products, for which she is an ambassador, the odd oxygen facial, plenty of sunscreen and a glass of lemon juice every morning.

Which is all rather refreshing – and appears to come at a time when there has been a welcome shift towards more natural looks in the fashion industry. In France, there has been a move towards plus-size magazine cover stars – Laura Catterall is on the front of April's French Cosmopolitan, while Dita Von Teese opted for fullerfigured models for the recent launch of her new lingerie range.

But when will we see Blanchett, 42, next? Well, after attracting millions of new fans after starring in The Lord Of The Rings films, she will return this year as Galadriel in director Peter Jackson's forthcoming The Hobbit blockbusters (the JRR Tolkien story will be told in two parts).

And she could yet become a Bond girl, too. She has said that she'd love to play a Bond baddie, confessing that she has a particular soft spot for From Russia With Love's Rosa Klebb (as played by Lotte Lenya in the 1963 film).

And there's plenty more on the horizon. Critics have long dubbed her the Meryl Streep of the next generation and, with or without plastic surgery, we can expect to see Blanchett on the silver screen for decades to come. This year, she will also be filming Lawless and Knight Of Cups, both of which will be directed by Terrence Malick, whose earlier projects include Tree Of Life, The Thin Red Line and Badlands.

But perhaps what really separates Blanchett from so many other actresses is her extraordinary range.

In 1998, her turn as the young Elizabeth I as she struggles to come to terms with her overwhelming responsibilities – and passions – before becoming the iconic, aloof Virgin Queen was a masterclass in character development. While in Notes On A Scandal, in which she plays an adulterous school teacher in the sights of a memorably sinister Judi Dench, she captures beautifully the ordinary suburban woman fast drifting out of her depth. Unsurprisingly, both earned her Oscar Nominations.

So, here's to very natural beauty Cate Blanchett: Tudor Queen, Oscar winner, would-be Bond girl... and now The Lady cover star.