About How Maya Hawke’s Gay Rumors Started and If She Really Is One

Maya Hawke needed no introduction in Hollywood after she got super popular, portraying the sarcastic main protagonist Robin on Stranger Things season 3.

As the character's popularity began to rise, her acting and music career skyrocketed.

But with popularity and fans came a widespread curiosity regarding her personal life; fans began to ask, "Is Maya Hawke gay in real life?," mostly because Robin is lesbian in the series and Hawke in her real life maintains a low profile on social media.

Because of this, her fans often stumble upon obscurity regarding her personal life, especially rumors that say she is gay. Hence, the speculations demand inquiries about her past relationships and boyfriend.

But before digging up that information to find the truth, one has to understand how the rumors of her being gay started. 

Maya Hawke's Gay Rumors Started from 'Stranger Things'

Hawke's portrayal of Robin on the Netflix series Stranger Things made the fans truly believe that Hawke's sexuality was lesbian in real life.

To those unfamiliar with the series, Robin debuted in the third season when the show was already crashing Netflix's streaming server. Most fans immediately liked her character's complexity and depth, and they loved when she came out as gay. 

Hawke was admittedly invested in playing Robin as she expected viewers to empathize with her character. And in the 2019 red carpet event, Hawke told Variety that Robin had the potential to influence people.

"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," she noted.

Strangely, the show's writers had not initially determined Robin's emerging sexuality. But, according to Hawke, during the production of season three, the Duffer brothers, Shawn Levy, and herself collectively discussed and decided to portray Robin as a gay character. 

"Throughout filming, we started to feel like she and [Steve] shouldn't get together, and that she's gay. Even when I go back and watch earlier episodes, it just seems like the most obvious decision ever," she explained. 

She shared: "It wasn't really until we were shooting episode four and five, I think, that we made the final decision. It was kind of a collaborative conversation, and I'm really, really happy with the way that it went."

Maya Hawke drew on Robin's shoes to get into character. (Photo: Netflix/Twitter)

Later, Netflix reported that even the costume designer was dedicated to letting Hawke explore Robin's sexuality. Hawke was allowed to draw on Robin's red converse, where she drew Robin's essence with words like "god likes you, of course."

A look into Robin - the lesbian character

Hawke's character Robin was introduced in season three of Stranger Things as a co-worker and former classmate of Steve Harrington. Steve and Robin develop a bond of best friends out of their similar interests.

It is through Steve Robin'sgets connected with other characters in the show and the major Russian plot. 

Since Robin is Steve's best friend and an important ally of his against supernatural forces, she is used to his complex love life. They are so close enough that their bond relies on honest and shared memories. Even in the final scene of the episode where Steve makes a move on Robin, she openly comes out as a lesbian and talks about the high school girl named Tammy Thompson, who used to like Steve. Then, she also explains that her likeliness towards Thompson was why she hated him in high school while she was equally fascinated by him. 

Later, Robin decides to help survivors of the massive earthquake that destroyed a part of Hawkins and meets her crush, Vickie, who recently broke up with her boyfriend. Robin gets to know Vickie's story, and they start to bond. But it looks like fate has another plan—they see the particles from Upside Down starts to drop on Hawkins. 

Is Maya Hawke Gay?

After playing Robin, fans questioned Hawke's real-life sexuality and speculated is she was gay. And it only intensified after she starred in a music video for Therese, a song from her album Moss. 

The Pride reported that her video enunciated Hawke's explicitly queer and languid crooning with scenes of group orgy interrupted by police.

During the video's press release, Hawke explained that her song denied the systematic misunderstanding and opined humans were created to be free. She highlighted she was reclaiming a new belief in sexuality and discarding the societal image of sex or gender. 

"We are all bombarded with negative and doctored images of bodies all the time, whether we want to be or not," she poetically continued during the film's screening. 

She conceded the idea of sexuality taught to her by society, where "[it] seems to want us all to hate ourselves and fear others," was conventional. But after understanding her adult self, she said she searched for a meaningful connection, not a partnership with the other sex. 

While Hawke does not recognize herself as gay, her statements imply she was more focused on the person than their sexuality. And it is not sure if she has found that person yet. 

The last time her dating life made headlines was when she was spotted with her reported boyfriend, Spender Barnett, on Valentine's Day in 2022. 

Before Barnett, she was linked with Tom Sturridge. They were reported to have dated for more than a year until 2021. 

Hawke hopes her portrayal helps the LGBTIQ+ community

Hawke, who appeared in the 2022 Netflix film Do Revenge as a queer character Eleanor, is optimistic that her gay portrayals help the "boys" and "girls" explore their sexuality. 

"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," she told Variety.