Ethan Hawke recently opened up about his very public split from ex-wife Uma Thurman, calling the whole experience a tough pill to swallow. He spoke about it during an interview with GQ U.K., published on Monday, September 1. "It’s humiliating," the actor, now 54, stated about his divorce that grabbed headlines. He added that it feels almost embarrassing even when people say nice things.
Thurman, now 55, filed for divorce from Hawke in 2004, a year after they first separated. The former couple, who tied the knot in 1998, share two children: daughter Maya, now 27, and son Levon, now 23. Their divorce was finalized in 2005.
Hawke and Thurman’s love story began on the set of their 1997 movie, ‘Gattaca.’ When asked why actors often fall for each other while filming, the ‘Black Phone’ star playfully compared it to a game of "spin the bottle." He explained that there’s a unique closeness in the acting world, an "imaginative intimacy" that feels exciting and a bit risky. It’s like falling in love at summer camp, he noted, often having little to do with the everyday grind of real life. That, he warned, is where the danger lies.
Hawke had previously confessed to GQ that his "personal life fell apart" after he and Thurman went their separate ways. He reflected that the time should have been a high point in his career, a moment when he might have become a big commercial success. Instead, he found himself divorced and everything else unraveling. Hawke described how, when you’re feeling down, it’s easy to spot what’s fake in others and in life itself. He remembered seeing the phoniness of fame and everything else, likening it to his "inner Holden Caulfield" kicking in.
His 2004 romantic film, ‘Before Sunset,’ proved to be a major help during that rough patch.
He explained that filming ‘Before Sunset’ happened right at the peak of his marriage breaking down. Spending that summer with co-star Julie Delpy and director Richard Linklater helped him get back in touch with a more "idealized" or "purer" part of himself. It was a wonderful summer that truly aided his recovery.
Since his split from Thurman, Hawke found love again and married Ryan Shawhughes in 2008. They have two daughters together: Clementine, now 17, and Indiana, now 14.
Thurman, for her part, has also had other significant relationships. She was married to Gary Oldman from 1990 to 1992. Later, she was engaged to André Balazs from 2003 to 2007. She also got engaged to Arpad Busson, with whom she shares a daughter, Luna, now 13, but they eventually separated between 2008 and 2014.
Despite their past, Thurman has always refused to speak negatively about Hawke after their divorce. In a 2006 interview with Parade, she stated clearly that she couldn’t say anything critical about her children’s father. She emphasized her need to keep the peace, noting that she hadn’t said a bad word then and wouldn’t start. She felt it would be terrible for her family.
In 2015, Hawke spoke about the challenges of co-parenting with Thurman during a Q&A session in New York City. He explained that kids can sometimes create chaos when parents are divorced. They might say things like, "At Mom’s house, we eat ice cream all the time!" or make threats about not coming next weekend. He highlighted that different households have different rules – school rules, grandma’s rules, mom’s rules, dad’s rules – and no one’s rules are necessarily wrong; they are just different. So, he and Ryan started making sure they were on the same page about their rules.