Maya Hawke’s New Song Alludes To Her Parents’ Ethan Hawke & Uma Thurman’s Split
Hawke's song 'Driver' seems to pull some real-life inspiration from her famous parents' divorce.
Fans of Stranger Things might know Maya Hawke as the clumsy but quick-witted Robin Buckley, but like many kids of celebrities, Hawke also dabbles in music. The 24-year-old actor and singer released her sophomore effort Moss last Friday, and the album’s penultimate song “Driver” feels like it is referencing the real-life split of her parents Uma Thurman and Ethan Hawke.
“I imagine my mom and dad / Loosely neckin’ in the back of a taxi cab / I’d give everything I’ll ever have to see them happy / Kissin’ just like that,” she sings. “And oh, I can watch it in the movies / I don’t wanna see it that crafted and clear / Wanna be the pervert driver / Gazin’ at them through a tilted mirror,” she sings in the first verse. The song continues to paint a picture of a girl growing up in the midst of her parents’ split, navigating how their divorce has impacted her own relationships as well.
Hawke’s father and Thurman first met on the set of Gattaca in 1997 and quickly became pregnant with Maya. The couple got married in May 1998, and two months later they welcomed Maya. They also have a son together, Levon, who was born in 2002. The couple split a year later, with the divorce finalized in 2005.
And while it can be easy to dismiss angsty songs about divorce from the child of Hollywood royalty, heartbreak is heartbreak. Divorce is difficult for everyone involved, no matter how much money can be thrown at the situation. Plus Hawke is very cognizant of her privilege. “Oh, god, I’m well aware that every part I get is somehow influenced by the history of who I am as a person and where I come from,” she said of her famous lineage in a 2020 interview with Nylon. “I’m a not-that-famous, not-that-successful young actress, but if I get cast in something, it will get PR.”
The Stranger Things’ star opened up about the difficulties of coparenting through a divorce in his 2015 book Rules for a Knight: “One of the things that’s really hard about parenting from a divorced standpoint, is that your kids can wreak havoc over you.” He added, “There is a lot of, ‘At Mommy’s house, we have ice cream all the time’ and ‘I don’t think I’m going to come next weekend,’” clashes that clearly play out in Maya’s lyrics.
Ultimately, it seems like she has come to accept her parents’ decision to split, thanks to the healing salve of time and an adult perspective. Her lyrics insinuate that she now knows that it was the best for everyone in the long run: “Happy that my father, he got free / That even though it hurt me / He can be whoever the hell he wants to be.” Listen to the entire song below:
