Ethan Hawke Details What He Realized Would “Save” Daughter Maya Hawke’s Life

In fact, Ethan—also dad to son Levon, 23, with Uma, as well as daughters Clementine Jane, 17, and Indiana, 14, with wife Ryan Shawhughes—had a front row seat to the moment she found her artistic voice as a teen.

“I remember some teacher said, ‘Maya, are you happy?’ ‘Cause they were worried about her,” he recalled. “And she said something to the effect of, ‘Do you really think that’s the question?’ I thought, ‘I love this kid.’ She was about 13.”  

He continued, “[Maya said], ‘I don’t think that’s a very interesting question. I think there’s a lot more interesting questions than whether I’m happy or not. Am I happy? No. But I don’t aspire to be happy.’ So I never worried about her going into the arts, because I knew that was gonna save her life.”