Ethan Hawke and Uma Thurman were one of Hollywood’s hottest couples in the late 1990s, with starring roles in hit movies like “Reality Bites” and “Pulp Fiction.”

They met on the set of “Gattaca” in 1997 and were married the following year, going on to have two children together, Maya and Levon Hawke.

However, their marriage fell apart in 2003 when Hawke was accused of cheating on Thurman with the couple’s children’s nanny, Ryan Shawhughes.

In an interview with GQ, Hawke opened up about the impact of the divorce on his life and career. He admitted that he wasn’t ready for marriage and that the divorce affected every aspect of his life.

“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?” he said.

Hawke also revealed that 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 added that he wasn’t mature enough to get married and had no business making long-term commitments 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,” he said.

Hawke also discussed the advice he received from other, more experienced actors and how it could have helped him avoid making 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,” he said.

“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.”

Despite the difficulties of his divorce, Hawke said that his passion for acting and his love for his children helped him focus on becoming a better person.

“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,” he said.

In addition to his struggles with marriage and divorce, Hawke also faced challenges in his career. He was nominated for an Oscar for his role in “Training Day” in 2002, just as his marriage was falling apart.

He told GQ that the divorce had a profound impact on his career, saying, “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.”

Despite these setbacks, Hawke continued to act and has appeared in numerous movies and TV shows over the years.

He recently starred in the hit HBO series “The Good Lord Bird” and earned critical acclaim for his performance. He also continues to work as a director and writer, with several projects in the works.

Hawke’s divorce from Thurman was finalized in 2005, and he went on to marry Shawhughes, the couple’s children’s nanny, with whom he had two more children.

Hawke and Shawhughes are still married and live together with their children in New York City.

While Hawke has moved on from his marriage to Thurman and the challenges that came with it, he still reflects on that period of his life and the lessons he learned.

In the GQ interview, he emphasized the importance of being honest with oneself and not rushing into long-term commitments. “I wasn’t ready for marriage,” he said. “I had no business going into a long-term commitment at that age. I wasn’t developed enough to get married.”

Hawke’s candid comments about his marriage and divorce offer a glimpse into the personal struggles that even successful celebrities can face. Despite the challenges he has faced, Hawke remains a respected and successful actor, with a thriving career and a happy family life.