Maya Hawke says her life's "biggest heartbreaks" have been seeing her friendships come to an end.

The 28-year-old actress, best known for playing Robin Buckley in Stranger Things, got married to Christian Lee Hutson earlier this year, but before they met, she was constantly "falling in love" with her pals.

She told Cosmopolitan magazine: "I consider myself a hopeless romantic. The closest we get to magic is what can happen between two people.

"Until I actually fell in love with my husband, I was falling in love all the time. I fall in love with my friends every day.

"I love them very romantically, like how can we spend Christmas together romantically and familially? My biggest heartbreaks of my life have been friendships ending."

Maya, who is joining The Hunger Games franchise with prequel Sunrise of the Reaping later this month, insisted that losing friendships "hits differently" than a romance.

She explained: "It hits different because when you fall in love in a romantic way with someone, some part of you understands that there is a chance that it might expire.

"There are a lot of things that have to go right for it to work. But with a friendship, you don't go in with that armour up.

"You go in so vulnerable, and when it doesn't work, it's the biggest tears I've ever shed."

Maya admitted she still talks about her "biggest friendship heartbreak from high school at least monthly, probably weekly".

She's in a happier place now with her husband, who has helped her overcome insecurities in her career.

Maya, whose parents are Hollywood stars Ethan Hawke and Uma Thurman, recalled: "In the beginning of my career, when I was balancing fashion and acting, I had a boyfriend once call me an 'AMW' -- an actress, model, whatever.

"The 'whatever' was so charged. I had some embarrassment around it. And I wanted to be like, 'I'm not a model.' But I didn't like 'actress.' "

However, she finds herself more confident when it comes to appearing on runways.

She said: "When I go to Milan to work with Mrs. Prada and Raf Simons, I consistently feel good about myself. Even my husband pointed it out.

"I was recently auditioning for a project where the character needed to be really confident and he was like, 'Be who you are when we go to Milan.' "