Cate Blanchett dressed up as daughter's teacher during lockdown

Cate Blanchett dressed up as her daughter's teacher to get her to learn during the first Covid-19 lockdown.

The Australian actress took charge of home schooling her seven-year-old daughter Edith when the pandemic first hit the U.K. in 2020 and the youngster insisted that her mum act out the part of her teacher Mrs Venables Kyrke during lessons.

"She wouldn't allow me at all to teach maths or do phonics unless I dressed up as her teacher and put on her teacher's voice," the 52-year-old recalled to BBC News. "I had an array of stuffed animals who also had to be taught. It wasn't an offer I made. It was a request she made."

When she was asked to give a demonstration of her teacher performance, Blanchett responded, "Mrs Venables Kyrke? No. It was so traumatic for me I've actually put my Mrs Venables Kyrke to bed. She was her teacher then. She's a saint."

The Nightmare Alley star and her husband Andrew Upton are also parents to three sons - Dashiell, 20, Roman, 17, and Ignatius, 13. The actress admitted trying to home school all of her children gave her more of an appreciation for teachers.

"One thing that really came home to me was just how incredible teachers are. That is an inherently dramatic situation where you have to stand up in front of a class of 30 often disinterested pupils and try and get the engaged in medieval history," she shared.