Cate Blanchett's daughter has been "an extraordinary blessing."

Cate Blanchett

Cate Blanchett

The 'Blue Jasmine' star adopted Edith, three, with her husband Andrew Upton - with whom she also has three sons Dashiell, 16, Roman,14, and 10-year-old Ignatius - in 2015 and she has admitted none of them expected the little girl to light up their lives as much as she has done over the past three years.

She said: "She has been an extraordinary blessing for all of us."

Edith's arrival into the family saw the 49-year-old actress take a step back from her movie career and focus on being "present" with her husband and children.

Speaking to Harper's Bazaar magazine, she explained: "It's a huge part of what I am and what I want to do. I can't help it, it's part of my instinct.

"Edith woke up in the middle of the night and said: 'Will you pick me up from school tomorrow?' I'd sort of said to the babysitter, I really can't pick her up, because I didn't want to be late for you. But I was really happy to be able to.

"Being able to do what you say you're going to do - there is nothing better. I love it when I wake up thinking that there's something on, and then I realise that I've got the day wrong, and all of us can just stay in our pyjamas..."

And, although her career has given her the freedom to pick and choose what she does, Cate doesn't want her kids to follow in her footsteps when they're older.

She said: "I think if I was in a different profession, if I was a lawyer, or a doctor, or an architect, maybe, or if I had a trade that I could actually use in the Armageddon, then there would be a sense that that would be a great and expected thing. Certainly my children do not want to be 'the son of', and I know that my feisty daughter will not want to be 'the daughter of' ...

"And there is more rejection than there is acceptance."