Ethan Hawke Doesn't Think Cheating Is That Big of a Deal, Says "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 gray," the actor says

Well, at least Ethan Hawke is being upfront and honest.

The 43-year-old actor got very candid on the topic of love and fidelity during an interview with Mr. Porter, speaking about his past relationship with actress Uma Thurman, his current relationship with Ryan Hawke and his thoughts on people's "childish" view of monogamy.

Hawke first met Thurman on the set of their 1997 film Gattaca, and the actor says it "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."

They were married for six years before divorcing in 2004. The pair has two children together, daughter Maya, 15, and son Roan, 11.

"We tried to be as optimistic as we could be: we all want to believe in love and the possibility of love," Hawke adds. He then went on to marry the couple's nanny Ryan (née Shawhughes) in 2008. They also have two children together. 

"My relationship with my present wife is thrilling to me and I'm committed to it," he explains. "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."

And this is when Hawke goes into how—because of nature—it is tough for one to keep it in their pants.

"People have such a childish view of monogamy and fidelity. '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," he says.

"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 gray."

That's one way to look at it.