Maya Hawke’s sexuality: All about her love life

Being the daughter of Hollywood heavy hitters like Uma Thurman and Ethan Hawke guaranteed Maya Hawke fame from an early age. Yet, Maya was unsatisfied with living in the shadows of her two uber-successful parents, deciding to carve out a career of her own as an actor and a musician. 

Hawke made her on-screen debut in 2017, playing Jo March in Little Women. Her breakthrough came courtesy of Stranger Things, in which she portrayed Robin Buckley. Maya launched her music career in August 2019 and plans to release her second album, Moss, in September 2022. 

Maya’s portrayal of a lesbian in Stranger Things has sparked inquiries about the actor’s sexuality. 

Maya is straight and is dating musician Spencer Barnett

Maya hasn’t addressed her sexuality publicly, but we assume she’s straight based on her dating history – Hawke has only dated men. 

Hawke is currently dating musician Spencer Barnett. The Daily Mail published a report about the relationship in February 2022 after the outlet spotted the pair sharing kisses in New York City. They’ve since attended several events together. 

Maya and Spencer haven’t addressed their relationship in interviews or on social media, but we are confident they are dating. 

Spencer Barnett is a musician who released his debut EP, Reckless, in 2019. He is the son of former Manhattan DA Sloan Barnett and Shaklee Corporation CEO Roger Barnett. Reports speculate he met Maya through her brother Levon. 

Hawke was previously linked to Sandman star Tom Sturridge. The relationship started in July 2020, causing a stir due to the pair’s 13-year age difference. Tom Sturridge has one child from a previous relationship with Sienna Miller. 

Tom and Maya reportedly broke up in early 2022. Before Tom, Maya briefly dated Rolling Stone President and COO Gus Wenner. 

Hawke enjoyed playing a lesbian character in Stranger Things

Maya told The Wall Street Journal that the Duffer brothers didn’t write Robin as a gay character, but as the crew shot season 3, they realized she should be a lesbian. Robin said:

“Throughout filming, we started to feel like she and (Steve) shouldn’t get together, and that’s she’s gay. Even when I go back and watch earlier episodes, it just seems like the most obvious decision ever.”

Maya and the showrunners decided at around episode five to make Robin gay. They didn’t give her a prolonged arc explaining how she came out – Robin revealed she was gay after Steve opened up about his crush on her. 

@ickobel tweeted their satisfaction about the scene: “The best thing about Robin’s coming out scene in Stranger Things S3 is that Steve has no prob that she’s gay. It’s the fact that she has a horrible taste in women who sing off-key that upsets him.”

Hawke told Variety that she appreciated the showrunners giving Robin a chance to explore her sexuality. In season 4, Robin has a crush on a girl named Vickie.

“A lot of the time, gay characters these days often get to be gay without acting on it, they don’t get to kiss someone or have that really be a core centre of their story,” Maya told the outlet. 

Maya told IndieWire she was delighted with Robin’s direction and hoped the character helped people become more accepting of the LGBTQ+ community. She explained:

“If I can hope for anything it’s that maybe some people fell in love with Robin and that helped them fall in love with girls who love girls and boys who love boys.”