Why Sarah Michelle Gellar Wants Maya Hawke to Help Out Her Teenage Daughter (Exclusive)

Yahoo

24-05-2025

Sarah Michelle Gellar is sharing why she taps Maya Hawke to help her teen daughter Charlotte.
The Buffy the Vampire Slayer star, 48, opened up about the subject while chatting exclusively with Parade amid their partnership with the Ask2BSure campaign, which aims to help parents and their kids further understand the increased risk for meningitis among teens and young adults.
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When Gellar was asked if Charlotte, 15, will follow her footsteps into acting, the Cruel Intentions alum says she uses Hawke — whose parents are actors Ethan Hawke and Uma Thurman — as an example. The pair became close friends after starring in Netflix's Do Revenge together in 2022.
'There's no question, but we've told her she has to wait til she graduates high school, and then she can make decisions about what she wants to do once she's finished school,' Gellar begins. 'It's hard, when it's both your parents jobs, to tell your kids, 'No, you can't do that,' or 'No, you shouldn't do that.' But at the same time, I think there's a different pressure on them, and I think that it's better for them to be fully formed people to be able to face that pressure.'
She continues: 'I look at Maya Hawke. [She's] always my example. And I've actually had Maya talk to Charlotte about why it's better to go to sets, sit on sets. I let Charlotte work on sets behind the scenes so she can soak it all in and learn it, but wait a little bit because there's a different pressure, I think, in that situation.'
Reiterating why she enlists Hawke, 26, to keep an open dialogue with Charlotte, Gellar jokes: 'Maya's way cooler than me.'
As for Gellar and fellow Buffy co-star Alyson Hannigan's partnership with the Ask2BSure campaign, the pair tell Parade that it was important for them — especially as mothers to teenagers — to get the word out about making sure their kids are vaccinated against the five disease-causing types of meningitis, including A, B, C, W and Y, all of which can lead to death or severe lifelong complications.
While many teens and young adults receive vaccinations to help protect against groups A, C, W and Y, most may still be missing a vaccination for meningitis B. Ages 16 to 23 are at higher risk for contracting meningitis B through common behaviors like living in close quarters, kissing, sharing drinks and more.
Related: Sarah Michelle Gellar Reunites With 'Buffy' Co-Star to Raise Awareness
'This campaign is such an important issue to just go talk to your doctor and just get the information,' Hannigan says. 'I learned so much when I talked to my kids' pediatrician, and so much I didn't know. And I thought I was on top of everything. I learned so much, and so we're just encouraging parents to go ask their doctor.'
Gellar adds: 'When Alyson was first doing the campaign, I was like, 'Oh yeah, my kids were vaccinated for meningitis,' and then you would go, 'Oh, wait, there's this other strain of it that is not part of the original vaccination series,' and that is really easy to slip through the cracks. And because it hits the ages between 16 to 23, which are the most vulnerable — which is exactly where our kids are — it can tailspin you.'
Why Sarah Michelle Gellar Wants Maya Hawke to Help Out Her Teenage Daughter (Exclusive) first appeared on Parade on May 23, 2025