Ethan Hawke opened up about his relationship with his eldest daughter, actress Maya Hawke, in a wide-ranging interview with Sydney Sweeney published Thursday.

Ethan Hawke and Sweeney spoke to each other for Variety’s annual series, “Actors on Actors,” where Hawke talked about his children and Maya in particular.

“There were a lot of things about her childhood that were very, very hard and complicated, and things that I regret for her,” the “Blue Moon” actor said. “I remember a teacher saying, ‘Maya, are you happy?’ Because they were worried about her. And she said something like, ‘Do you really think that’s the question?’ I thought, ‘I love this kid.’ I was about 13 years old.”

While Hawke didn't expand on any particular incident he regretted, he and Maya's mother, Uma Thurman, were married for six years and are both in the public eye.
While Hawke didn’t expand on any particular incident he regretted, he and Maya’s mother, Uma Thurman, were married for six years and are both in the public eye.

VALERIE MACON via Getty Images

He added that he also “never worried” about Maya “devoting herself to the arts, because she knew that would save her life.”

While Hawke didn’t expand on any particular incident he regretted, he and Maya’s mother, Uma Thurman, were married for six years and are both in the public eye.

The two actors were also the subject of major tabloid speculation, with rumors that Hawke left Thurman for her children’s nanny, Ryan Shawhughes. Hawke and Shawhughes later confirmed their relationship by marrying in 2008. They have two children together.

Hawke recently opened up about her divorce from Thurman in an interview with the Los Angeles Times.

“Public opinion is like gasoline, but what makes divorce difficult are the things that make it difficult for everyone: the family elements, how to help the children get through it,” he said in an interview published last month.

She added that “I can’t really talk about this because I promised my children many times not to talk about divorce in public.”

“But one thing I will say is that if you have the privilege of traveling the world, you realize that men and women everywhere have enormous difficulty staying married,” Hawke added. “When I separated I was determined not to have more children and I wanted to be single for the rest of my life. But then I made a best friend and I liked kissing her.”