Blanchett blasts cosmetic surgery

Australian actress Cate Blanchett has hit out at the cosmetic industry, just weeks after signing a deal to promote a skincare range.

Blanchett was recently unveiled as the new face of SK-II Japanese creams.

But the actress insists she is very sceptical about the true power of cosmetics and is concerned about the hold they have over women.

She says: "I'm always a cynical, sceptical person, and I think that women and their vulnerabilities are played on in the cosmetic industry.

"I do think women are encouraged to be terrified of ageing."

But Blanchett insists she has signed the deal with SK-II because it didn't play by the same rules.

She also took the opportunity to hit out at younger models who are finding themselves out of work at the expense of Hollywood stars who are now being signed to promote cosmetics: adding, "I certainly think that when I flick through all the magazines at the hairdresser's I like to see and am drawn to images that have an intelligence and mind at work behind them.

"Whilst I'm sure there is a mind at work behind a 12-year-old girl, it's something different from a woman in her 30s, where there is a life experience behind it."