Cate Blanchett Says She's 'Middle Class.' Critics Harshly Disagree.
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Two-time Oscar winner Cate Blanchett, an alum of the blockbuster “Lord of the Rings” franchise and multiple prestige films, declared at the Cannes Film Festival that she’s “middle class.” (Watch the video below.)
Blanchett made the dubious claim on Monday when asked about her role as a Goodwill Ambassador for the UN Refugee Agency at a news conference.
“I’m white, I’m privileged, I’m middle class, and I think, you know, one can be accused of having a bit of a white savior complex, but to be perfectly honest, my interaction with the refugees in the field and also in resettled environments has totally changed my perspective on the world,” she said in a clip shared by the Associated Press on TikTok.
In 2018, Forbes estimated Blanchett’s annual earnings to be $12.5 million. Architectural Digest reported last year that she and husband Andrew Upton have a “dazzling” real estate portfolio across England and Australia.
Many critics took their shots at the “Blue Jasmine” and “Aviator” star for uttering such a puzzling statement.
“Cate Blanchett is ‘middle class’...and I am a giraffe,” X user quipped. “Deluded woman,” sniped another.
While someone on social media thought Blanchett was perhaps referencing her “middle-class” upbringing in Australia (the actor has spoken of her financially stressed youth), one Australian wasn’t buying it.
“She isn’t living in the real Australian world...middle class Aussies are working trying to pay the bills and put food on the table not sunny themselves in Cannes in a 5 star hotel...lol,” the person wrote.
The backlash was reminiscent of the reactions “Who’s the Boss?” and “Charmed” actor Alyssa Milano encountered when she tried to raise money for her son’s baseball team on GoFundMe and said she couldn’t afford to send the entire squad on a trip.
HuffPost has reached out to a Blanchett rep for comment.
