Ethan Hawke On The Difficulty Of Loving A More Successful Actress

As much as we’d like to see our favourite celebrity marriages succeed, the sad truth is that the majority of romantic unions featuring one or more paparazzi -targets will end in crushing disappointment, as the two slowly come to realise that the disparity in their per-picture asking prices has wedged a permanent rift between them. Still, like so many other blatantly obvious yet unspoken Hollywood truths, that fact is never actually addressed. Instead, we get familiar clichés like “irreconcilable differences,” and publicist mainstay, “the two remain great friends” – all of which makes the former Mr. Uma Thurman’s candidness on the subject at a recently taped episode of Shootout all the more refreshing:

“It’s unfair when one person’s career is taking off and the other is really suffering,” the 36-year-old actor tells AMC’s “Shootout” in an interview slated to air Sunday.

“What happens it’s not that they’re jealous of each other; it’s that the person you share your life with isn’t in the mood to support,” Hawke says. “You want to have a pity party for yourself, but they’re off to the Golden Globes and you don’t want to go because everyone is going to think you are jealous.”

While Hawke will undoubtedly weather some harsh critiques for copping to a stinginess of awards-show spirit, we again must applaud the rare glimpse inside the mind of a deeply insecure – i.e. perfectly normal – movie star. It’s not, as it turns out, a matter of being jealous of a more lauded spouse, but rather of being perceived as jealous – a fine, but crucial, distinction. If only more celebrities were this forthcoming with their feelings, perhaps we could avoid further tragedies like the overcompensating smothering of Reese Witherspoon by then-husband Ryan Phillippe at the 2006 Golden Globes.

• Hawke: Not Easy Being in Celeb Marriage [AP]