Uma Thurman, 55, has been a mom for 26 years. By now, she's an old pro. In a conversation with The Times, the mom of three called her current era of parenting as the "sunset period."
Uma shares two children, Maya Hawke, 26, and Levon Hawke, 23, with fellow actor Ethan Hawke, 54. She co-parents her third child, Luna, 13, with French financier Arpad "Arki" Busson. In her blended family, things are slowing down a bit now.
"[It's] shopping and driving and emailing teachers and all the things we do," Uma explained.
Uma loves being a mom and deeply loves her children. In 2020, she told PEOPLE: "I'm madly in love with all of my children and very proud of them. I think they conduct themselves with a lot of dignity and respect for others. It's all a parent could dream of."
The actress looked back on her childhood and admitted how different her life was than that of her daughters. When Uma was just 15, she left her boarding school and moved to New York City, all by herself.
"I knew very clearly that I was going to be an actress and I very much wanted to go out on my own," she says. "Both my parents did the same sort of thing when they were young. They were very independent. So I think there was a certain amount of being raised to be independent."
As a teen, she made her own money and headed into the city for auditions with, as she says, "just a Filofax and a quarter in case I got lost and needed to call someone."
She contemplates the freedom she was given, calling it "mind-boggling. She added: "I mean, it's unimaginable. Those were different times."
Her oldest daughter Maya is an actor just like her parents. She stars in Stranger Things and is set to appear in the upcoming Hunger Games film, alongside Elle Fanning. When it comes to any advice she'd give Maya, Uma says: "Oh, she knows what she's doing. She went to Julliard, thank God. She actually finished high school [unlike me]."
"What I did learn [about mothering] is that nobody listens," she continued. "So it's really about being there for them rather than telling them what to do."
Like her mom, Maya is a bit of a fashionista. Uma lets her have free range of her closet, which Maya gladly rummages through to find pieces from the '90s.
"There's very little left of it," Uma said of her wardrobe. "She's done a good job."
Uma's youngest is officially a teenager which is why Uma is leaning into this new motherhood era. "It's beautiful and there's not that much time left in the day," she explained.