Ethan Hawke Thinks We Should All Calm Down About Monogamy

Ethan Hawke is known for many things, but perhaps the juiciest gossip stems from his public breakup with Uma Thurman. Celebrity divorces are always big tabloid fodder, but when one partner ends up marrying the family nanny, the rumor mill goes on overdrive. Of course, that's all ancient history in Hawke's book, but he still took time out to discuss his love life during a recent interview for Mr Porter.

Although Hawke wouldn't go into detail about the exact cause for his split with Thurman, he did hint at a few growing pains. "We tried to be as optimistic as we could be," he said. "We all want to believe in love and the possibility of love. The older you get, the more you realise how powerful love is. You understand the right ways for emotion to lead your life and the dangerous ways. I don't regret marrying early. Gattaca was a great moment in my life and a great moment in Uma Thurman's life and we fell madly in love and wanted to do all that."

The actor vehemently insists that Ryan Shawhughes, the aforementioned nanny and his current wife, had nothing to do with the couple's divorce — but, that didn't stop his detractors from spreading the idea. "People have such a childish view of monogamy and fidelity," he told Mr Porter. "'He's cheated so he's bad, she's cheated so she's bad,' as opposed to a recognition that our species is not monogamous. To act all indignant, that your world has been rocked because your lover wasn't faithful to you, is a little bit like acting rocked that your hair went grey."

Hawke, who has two children with Shawhughes (in addition to his two older children from his first marriage), finds that life often mirrors art when it comes to his movie roles. He's perhaps most loved for playing Jesse to Julie Delpy's Celeste in the Before series of movies. The latest (and most likely final) installment, Before Midnight, shows the couple struggling with infidelity and the implications of a long-term relationship. "My relationship with my present wife is thrilling to me and I'm committed to it," said Hawke. "But neither she nor I know what shape the future will come in. Sexual fidelity can't be the whole thing you hang your relationship on. If you really love somebody you want them to grow, but you don't get to define how that happens. They do."

Of course, his sexual history isn't the only thing up for discussion. Hawke also dishes on his illustrious acting career, and his ambition to balance life as a filmmaker with life as a father. Head over to Mr Porter for the full story. (Mr Porter)