The lover of movie hunk Ethan Hawke insists she didn't wreck his marriage to KILL BILL stunner UMA THURMAN - because the couple had already separated.

Gorgeous JENNIFER PERZOW insists Ethan - who has two children with Uma - told her about his marital problems from the moment they first met on the Montreal, Canada set of new movie Taking Lives.

The 22-year-old says, "I'm no home-wrecker. All this stuff that I broke up their marriage is just not true.

"The truth is, it's Uma who wanted out of the marriage, not Ethan. He's very much a family guy and this hasn't been an easy thing for him.

"The very first night I met him, he told me he was no longer with his wife - that they were having problems and he was separated. I had no reason to doubt him.

"Ethan didn't hide me from his public, the people on set or even his best friends. He introduced me to all his close pals, including LEONARD DI CAPRIO.

"There has to be a reason why Ethan was so open about his relationship with me. And it wasn't because he was being an a**hole and cheating on his wife. It's because there was already something wrong with their marriage long before we met.

"Ethan's a very down-to-earth, intelligent and caring guy. And very romantic. What we had in Montreal before everything broke loose was great."

19/10/2003 14:18