Uma's not bitter

She starred in the most spectacular movie of 2003 - and, in real life, the year's most surprising Hollywood divorce.

Now Uma Thurman is whetting our appetites for Kill Bill's sequel, out in April, and has taken the opportunity to stress that she can deal with the end of her six-year marriage to Ethan Hawke.

Thurman, 33, who posed for a series of provocative pictures in the new issue of US InStyle magazine, said: "It's not fun but, like any great change or trauma or shock or loss, you know you have to look at things as an opportunity for growth and a chance to reinvent yourself in some fashion.

"Sometimes the good memories might make you sad but they're still precious."

The couple split last year after Hawke allegedly had an affair with a waitress, prompting Thurman to throw him out of the home they shared with children Maya, five, and Roan, two. Meanwhile, Hawke, 32, has given an interview to US men's magazine Details, in which he confesses the split took its toll. He said it was "the saddest, most agonising period of my life ... I've lost 15lb".

Thurman will reprise her bloody role as The Bride in Quentin Tarantino's Kill Bill Part 2 - opposite Michael Madsen, David Carradine and Daryl Hannah.

The film is perhaps the ultimate revenge fantasy but in real life Thurman refuses to be bitter. She said: "I don't feel like anything was wasted. I've had a really rich life and I'm grateful for the last eight years. They were so much better than the eight years before that."

Thurman is currently filming Be Cool, a follow-up to Get Shorty, with John Travolta.