It wasn’t love at first sight for Oscar-winning actress Cate Blanchett and husband Andrew Upton, but once their relationship began there was no stopping them.
Like Cate, Andrew has a rich history in the entertainment industry as an Australian playwright, screenwriter, producer and director.
Within three weeks of their relationship, Andrew dropped to one knee and proposed to Cate. While speaking to Ellen DeGeneres in 2015, Cate confessed her fear he would propose mere days into the relationship.
“We were in bed as you are after three days,” she recalled. “He said, ‘Cate,’ and I thought, ‘s— he’s gonna ask me to marry him and I’m gonna have to say yes.’ And then he said, ‘No, I’m hungry, do you want to go get something to eat?’”
“Then he asked me after about 21 days and I said yes.”
In 1997, Cate and Andrew tied the knot and have been happily married for nearly three decades.
In these years of wedding bliss, the couple have welcomed four children. The eldest child, Dashiell John Upton was born on December 3, 2001. Their second son, Roman Robert Upton arriving on April 23, 2004, and Ignatius Martin Upton arriving over three years later on January 1, 2008.
Cate revealed in an interview with People the literary inspiration behind Roman and Ignatius’ names.
“I was eight months pregnant and hallucinating, and there’s a section in the book where he gets so upset that everyone teases him because his name is Professor Pee-Pee Poopypants that he forces the world to change their names,” she explained.
“They have this interior code, and they give these examples of names. You go down to ‘I’ and the example is Ignatius. It was like the Virgin Mary going ‘Boom!’”
Cate and Andrew were boy-parents before they adopted their daughter Edith Vivian Patricia Upton on March 6, 2015.
While the Australia actress previously admitted it was “great” to have a full boy household, she was absolutely “besotted” with her little girl.
“It’s wonderful to welcome a little girl into our fold,” she told Sky News. “We’re besotted… Fourth time around, it’s extraordinary.”