Ethan Hawke’s divorce from Uma Thurman came at a pivotal point in his career.
The 47-year-old actor spoke candidly about the emotional journey he went on following their split in an interview with GQ published on Monday, August 6. When asked about his Oscar nomination for his role in the 2001 film Training Day, Hawke dived deep into what the moment could have meant for him and what, in reality, it ended up meaning.
“In a lot of ways, it could have been the beginning of something. It was the best moment of my career. Like, maybe, maybe, you could be commercially viable,” he began. “But I got divorced and my personal life fell apart. 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?”
Hawke — who separated from 48-year-old actress in 2003 after five years of marriage — gushed that filming Before Sunset while going through the rough patch helped heal his soul.
“That was the height of my marriage falling apart,” he told the magazine. “And getting to spend that summer with Julie Delpy and Richard Linklater, reconnecting with a part of myself that was more … what’s the right word? Idealized. A cleaner self. That was a great summer. And it really helped me put myself back together.”
Hawke and Thurman share Maya 20, and Levon, 16. The Dead Poets Society star married wife Ryan in 2008, and they are parents to Clementine, 10, and Indiana, 7.
