When it comes to celebrity couples, no duo is as iconic as Goldie Hawn and Kurt Russell. The actors have been in a committed relationship since the 1980s, but it turns out their road to romance started even earlier.
Hawn and Russell’s love story actually began back in 1966 when the two met in the early stages of their career. At the time, Hawn was 21 years old—five years older than a 16-year-old Russell. Even though they had an age difference and both didn’t want to date other actors, Hawn admitted that Russell left a surprise first impression on her.
“I was 21, and he was 16, and I thought he was adorable, but he was much too young,” she told Desert Island Discs on BBC Radio 4 in 2012, per People. “Years later, we met up again, and I liked him, and I remembered that I liked him very much when I first met him. But we both said we would never go out with another actor so it just shows you never can tell.”
Fast forward to 1983 when Hawn and Russell reconnected during the latter’s audition for the movie Swing Shift. This time around, Russell thought Hawn was stunning and made the first move by blurting out a cheesy pick-up line about her figure. While he thought Hawn wasn’t going to be pleased by the phrase, she was actually flattered by it. They had their first date soon after, which came with a heart-pumping moment involving breaking into a house Hawn was renovating at the time. The pair later fell in love while filming Swing Shift.
But as Hawn explained to People in 2017, there was one major thing that played a role in their evolving new relationship. Hawn was already a mother to two children with ex-husband Bill Hudson, Oliver Hudson and Kate Hudson, meaning she had to think of how they’d react to their mom dating again. Luckily, Hawn didn’t have to worry about how Russell related to her kids. He already had a child of his own, a son named Boston Russell, with his ex-wife Season Hubley.
“What really got me was when I watched my kids when they’d come to the set and how he was with them,” she said. “He was amazing with them. He was such a natural.”
As Hawn and Russell blended their families, they decided to expand their love in different ways. Along with welcoming their son Wyatt Russell in July 1986, the couple later collaborated on the 1987 film Overboard. The actors also continued to support one another as their respective careers continued to skyrocket, whether it be walking the red carpet with each other or being cheerleaders behind the scenes. They also started a new chapter of their lives as partners when they became grandparents.
Kate welcomed her son Ryder with ex-husband Chris Robinson in January 2004, and Hawn was so excited to see her and Russell take on this new element of family life. Ryder’s middle name, Russell, is an ode to his step-grandfather. “I would love to be a grandmother,” Hawn had previously People in 2003. “I’m not pushing the matter, but it would be so much fun.”
Although the couple has been together for so long, Hawn and Russell are famous for choosing not to tie the knot. So, what was the reason behind their decision to stay unmarried? It came down to wanting to make their love mean a lot more than signing a piece of paper.
“A lasting relationship isn’t about marriage,” Hawn told Porter magazine in 2015, per E! News. “It’s about compatibility and communication. And you both need to want it to work... Being together, two pillars holding up the house and the roof, and being different, not having to agree on everything, learning how to deal with not agreeing. Everything’s a choice.”
Hawn also explained to CNN in 2023 that she wasn’t emotionally prepared for how marriage could potentially lead to divorce and eventual hurt. “Why should we get married?” she said. “When it doesn’t work out, it ends up to be big business... How many divorces are fun? How many divorces actually don’t cost money? How many divorces make you hate the person more than you did before? How many divorces have hurt children?”
Clearly, Hawn and Russell have managed to make their love work for them. And even after 40 years together, there is still so much in store for them. As Russell shared during his and Hawn’s double star ceremony on the Hollywood Walk of Fame in May 2017, he’s lucky to have someone like her in his life.
“To you, I owe my wonderful life,” he told Hawn in his speech, per Entertainment Tonight. “Simply put, Goldie, I cherish you. And all the stars in the sky or on the boulevard can't hold a candle to that.”
As the entertainment and news associate editor for Good Housekeeping, Adrianna (she/her) writes about everything TV, movies, music and pop culture. She graduated from Yeshiva University with a B.A. in journalism and a minor in business management. She covers shows like The Rookie, 9-1-1 and Grey's Anatomy, though when she’s not watching the latest show on Netflix, she’s taking martial arts or drinking way too much coffee.
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