Ethan Hawke and Uma Thurman were the premiere celebrity power couple for the five years they were together. The two starred together in hit ’90s movies like “Reality Bites” and “Pulp Fiction.”
In the early ’90s, the couple seemingly had it all with their flourishing career, children, and happy marriage. Still, everything fell apart in 2003 when Hawke allegedly cheated on Thurman with Ryan Shawhuges, their children’s nanny. The “Before Sunrise” actor denied the accusations, but when the couple finalized their divorce in 2005, Hawke started dating Shawhughes publicity.
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In an interview with GQ, the actor talked about that period of his life and just how much it impacted him years later. He admitted that he wasn’t ready for marriage and the divorce affected every area of his life and not for the better.
Hawke Said He Had No Business Marrying Thurman
According to InStyle, the couple met in 1997 on the set of “Gattaca.” They got engaged and married the next year and had two children, Maya and Levon Hawke. Hawke was 27 when he married and told Elle that he later second-guessed his decision to marry at such an early age.
The 51-year-old actor said he got married because he thought it would “decrease [his] variables.” “Success, when you’re young, is really overwhelming. The world felt out of control. And I wanted to stop it from spinning so fast. I thought marriage would decrease my variables or something. I was absolutely wrong,” he said.
He mentioned that he wasn’t developed enough to get married and had no business going into a long-term commitment at that age. “There was this discovery that the male brain isn’t done until 28. I definitely think my frontal lobe was not finished. I had no business taking vows that would last more than two weeks,” the “Sinister” actor admitted.
Hawke Disregarded Marriage Advice Other Celebrities Gave To Him
He also talked about advice from other mature actors and how it could have kept him from making even more mistakes later in life. “Around the time of Reality Bites, I met Debbie Reynolds at a dinner party. And she offered me all of this fantastic advice about, you know, her divorce from Eddie Fisher and Liz Taylor, and how to separate acting from public life,” Hawke said.
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“I remember thinking, ‘What does this lady know right now?’ The funny thing is, everything she said to me that night was true. If I could have heard her, I would have avoided so many mistakes.
Things Changed For The Worse After Hawke’s Divorce
In a separate interview with GQ, Hawke talked about his divorce and its profound effect on his life. Around that time, he had just been nominated for an Oscar for “Training Day,” and he felt that things were looking up for his career, but the divorce turned everything upside down.
He told GQ, “It was the best moment of my career. Like, maybe, maybe, you could be commercially viable. But I got divorced, and my personal life fell apart.” He also said that he began seeing everything in his life in a different light due to his emotional state.
He continued, “I don’t know if you feel this way, but when you’re depressed, it’s really easy to see everything that is fake about other people and life, and I just started seeing all that. How phony celebrity was, how phony everything is. You channel your inner Holden Caulfield, you know?”
The actor revealed that his passion for acting and his love for his children helped him focus on making himself better. “That’s the wonderful thing about children is they just need you every day. It gives your life balance. Meaning your whole life isn’t just about yourself.”
Why Hawke And Thurman Got Divorced
The couple’s split was under a lot of speculation because they were seen as one of Hollywood’s famous couples. The breakup rumors were that Hawke had cheated on Thurman with their nanny. However, the actor refuted the claims and said it was due to their different lifestyles.
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“Uma and I did not split up over anybody’s infidelity. You know you’d come up with these rules: ‘One person works, the other person doesn’t. Well, then somebody’s always out of town,'” he said.
He added, “Then I’m living in a hotel room taking care of my kids while you’re off on a film set six hours a day doing what you love. Do that for nine months and see what a good mood you’re in.”
