Cate Blanchett still has/wears underwear that her mom made her in high school

Here’s a photo of Cate Blanchett backstage after she watched the smash Broadway musical Hamilton. Incidentally, Hamilton’s writer/director/star Lin Manuel-Miranda just won a MacArthur Genius Grant last week (HUZZAH!). Cate was in NYC for another reason though – she attended a pop-up shop for SK-II, the skincare and beauty brand that she represents. She chatted with People Magazine about skincare – which I actually found interesting because Cate usually doesn’t bang on and on about her endorsements – plus she discussed something that amused me to no end: apparently, Cate never throws out old underwear.

On her underwear: “[People] would be horrified if they could see my underwear drawer. I swear to God, the only reason I take jobs and do photoshoots is so I can get more underpants. I still have underpants my mother made me in high school. I just — something about going to the lingerie section, I don’t know what — I get overwhelmed, I never know what to buy. So I have the most embarrassing, embarrassing underwear. It’s so old at this point, it’s like, ‘prison gray’.”

She used to try to get a tan: “I have such fair skin and I used to go onto the rooftop covered in baby oil to try and tan. I did it for one summer and my mum said, you’re never going to be that girl, you’re only going to damage your skin. She was talking to me about skin cancer. So I then went goth instead. I went the other way: dyed my hair — the whole thing.”

What she learned on the set of ‘Carol’: “I love a girdle.”

[From People]

Is the underwear thing gross? I’m really asking because my frame of reference is skewed. Mostly because I still have underwear from my college days. It’s not that I still WEAR underwear from my college days, I just have difficulties throwing out articles of clothing that are still “good” (i.e., not completely falling apart). I still have t-shirts and pants from that era as well. Those old articles of clothing hang out in the back of the closet, or in the case of more-than-a-decade-old underwear, at the very bottom of the underwear drawer. My rationale (which makes no sense, I know) is that YOU NEVER KNOW when you’re going to have an underwear emergency and need your cheap panties from when you were 20.

Additionally, Cate is going to receive the BFI Fellowship at this year’s BFI London Film Festival. From what I can tell, the fellowship is like a lifetime achievement award. THR had a good write-up about how this year’s London Film Festival was going to be dominated by female filmmakers and films about women. Here’s hoping!

Here are some photos of Cate at LAX over the weekend. Those are some really frightening pants.

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Photos courtesy of Fame/Flynet.

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27 Responses to “Cate Blanchett still has/wears underwear that her mom made her in high school”

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  1. kennedy says:

    Those pants are awesome. Seriously. I would wear them! Nothing frightening about them.

    • RocketMerry says:

      I like them too, especially considering she’s going to be hopping on a plane: comfortably normal-looking pants.

      Re: age old undies; I so keep ye olde underwear, too.
      Gross question ahead: does nobody wear double panties during that time of month anymore (to keep everything, you know, unmoving)? Old underwear is great for that. I had a roommate that hated the very suggestion, I found it so odd.

      • Egla says:

        I got underwear from 5 years ago. That’s as far as i can go. For years i had only whites one so my mother could wash them at 90 degrees and “disinfect” those as she says. And after harsh washing you can only imagine the look of them. After a while-growing up- i started buying underwear with some color on it which my mother hates as she can’t wash them “properly” anymore. (yes i still live with my parents and yes my mother does all the washing and ironing, i’m not a very girly girl).
        Recently i started dated a guy and it got embarrassing while undressing as he would laugh at my pants. He said they were little girl like. But he likes that (the fact that i’m relaxed and not into complicated lingerie not the little girl pants thank God).
        @ RocketMerry i have an aversion for tight underwear and i wear them only in those days. I couldn’t keep two pairs not even dead. Also i have special old underwear for those moments. But i have a friend who wears spanx on top of all as she has a huge flow and she uses maxi pads and needs extra hold. I feel so sorry for her. Ugh long writing here for pants

  2. Don't kill me I'm French says:

    The underwear story is ridiculous but nothing will be more gross/tacky/disgusting this year than Jennifer Lawrence’s hygienic habit

  3. ctkat1 says:

    I keep old underwear as my “period underpants”- and those are so gross, I would never want anyone to actually see them. So yes, I have a stack of really old, really gross underpants in my drawer, but I rationalize that it keeps my nice underwear nicer longer.

    • I wish I could do that. I’ve started to wear depends with a pad in them, with underwear over it because of how much I bleed. The first three days, it’s like I’m a stuck pig. I even bled through one of the diva cups! I ruined so many pairs of underwear, I just said screw it!

    • Loulou says:

      Yep, I have a terrible period underwear drawer too. No shame.

    • Nuna says:

      I don’t do that. I wear inexpensive but well cut and nice-patterned panties and throw them out every three months or so. My panties have to look and feel near new for me. I think if you need to keep things in place during that time of the month, spanx or a similar product is the best way to do so.

  4. missmerry says:

    speaking of, I need to do an undie overhaul, some of them have followed me through many stages of life and while it does feel weird to toss them in the bin, I can’t go and donate them to a charity shop!

  5. antipodean says:

    Underpants can actually be a very emotional subject, going all the way back to when one wasn’t earning money, and couldn’t afford to buy any, hence mine were all old, baggy, and full of holes. These days Hanes hi cuts are my best friends, and as soon as they get worn out I toss them out with great glee and buy more. I cannot however darken the doors of VS, ridiculous, expensive, tat, not actually made to make women comfortable in their foundation garments, but somehow to provide titillation for others. Makes no sense to me.

  6. frisbee says:

    I like big pants. There I’ve said it *runs away and hides*…

  7. Sarah01 says:

    Seriously these rich people are out of touch, she accepts jobs and take photo shoots because they provide her with underwear???
    Love her outfit here, the colour is beautiful.

  8. Ginger says:

    My underwear drawer is divided between the new and the old. I also wear the old when I’m on my period. I can relate to being overwhelmed in the underwear section but I trudge on anyway. And I’m also one of those pale women that shouldn’t tan. Im with Kate… Just accept the pale look and wear lots of sunscreen!

  9. Jasper says:

    Gimme those pants, maybe in black though!

  10. Lady D says:

    So the Daily Mail has an article up entitled “Cate Blanchett has revealed she named her son after convicted child sex offender Roman Polanski.”
    Once upon a time, I was a fan. I’m done with this lady.

    • Pinky Rose says:

      Which is obviously taken out of context. She said like “I don’t know for Polanski, the French word for book…”
      The DailyFail as always being tasteless has to turn her words and make them seemed like something bad.

      • Don't kill me I'm French says:

        The french word for “book” is ” livre”

      • Pinky Rose says:

        Lol I know (and I have little to no knowledge of French). But she said that on tv, not me.

      • Joaneu says:

        The French word for “novel” is “roman”, which is probably what she meant. I highly doubt that she named her child after Polanski. He probably just popped-in her head, as it’s not an awfully common name.

  11. boredblond says:

    Homemade undies? Would probably be cheaper to buy them…I keep some old fancy panties as a memory of how hipless I was long ago, hehe..now it’s strictly jockey cotton for this comfort creature.

  12. Chelly says:

    Im constantly rotating my panties. I buy & throw out older ones, buy & throw out. Im one of those people who always thinks “if i get into an accident tomorrow i need to have on a nice clean pair of panties & socks” not that they may even be paying attention, lol….but it puts my mind at ease & i feel better. So every month (give or take) out w the old & in w the new

    • Antonym says:

      LOL, I have the same thoughts. Mom and G-ma grilled it in to us as children and I still occasionally worry about something happening and the paramedics cut off my clothes to find bad undies. 😳

  13. Pinky Rose says:

    Ewwww I wish she kept this whitin herself lol. Still im enjoying her promotion tour for this film, the interviews, the clothes, everything. Though she does look tirer, probably cause she has a new baby daughter (there are some photos of both mom and baby gazing each other lovingly)
    Btw, I’m in love with the dress she wore for the Truth premiere last night.

  14. Poisonous Lookalike says:

    Those pants give her a terrible case of polterwang.

  15. taxi says:

    I travel with old undies & discard as I go instead of washing them.