Cate Blanchett: I've had 'many' women lovers

In her new movie, Carol, Cate Blanchett plays a woman who falls in love with a young department store clerk played by Rooney Mara.

When talking about the film (which premieres at Cannes this weekend) with Variety, Blanchett was asked if this is her first turn as a lesbian.

Blanchett smiled and coyly replied, "On film — or in real life?"

Pressed for details about whether she's had past relationships with women, she told Variety: "Yes. Many times."

Blanchett didn't elaborate beyond that.

And she didn't say her personal experiences informed her work.

The wife of playwright Andrew Upton and mom of four kids studied the era by reading erotic novels. "I read a lot of girl-on-girl books from the period," she says.

And she turned to the film's costume designer, Sandy Powell, for help.

"We asked, 'What is the most erotic part of the body?'" Blanchett says. "We kept saying that wrists are really erotic. The neck. The ankles. ... We talked a lot about erogenous zones."