Kurt Russell and Goldie Hawn have become the standard for committed couples who opt not to get married — but it turns out that the idea has crossed their minds.
“I’ve been going with my girl for 40 years. It’s come up in conversation whereas it never used to,” Russell, 72, told Extra on Friday, November 17, noting that the couple’s respective relationship histories play a part in why they’ve never tied the knot.
“We had both been married, we had both done that,” he said. “And you know what? We lived our life. We’ve had our family, our family continues to grow. It’s fantastic.”
Russell and Hawn, 77, met in 1966 on the set of their film The One and Only, Genuine, Original Family Band, but were both married to other people at the time.
(Russell was married to Season Hubley from 1979 to 1983 and the pair share son Boston. Hawn was married to Gus Trinkonis from 1969 to 1976 before she tied the knot with Bill Hudson, with whom she shares children Oliver Hudson and Kate Hudson. They divorced in 1982.)
During an interview with BBC in 2012, Hawn recalled finding Russell “adorable” but “too young” upon their first meeting — she was 21 and he was 16 — but her opinions changed when they reconnected on 1983’s Swing Shift.
“We met up again, and I remembered that I liked him very much when I first met him,” she recalled. “We both said we would never go out with another actor so it just shows you never can tell.”
The duo have been going strong ever since, welcoming their son, Wyatt, in 1986.
Both Hawn and Russell have been candid about their decision not to get married over the years, with Hawn telling Woman’s Day in 2007 that the couple have done “just perfectly” without tying the knot.
“I already feel devoted and isn’t that what marriage is supposed to do? So as long as my emotional state is in a state of devotion, honesty, caring and loving, then we’re fine,” she shared at the time, adding that both she and Russell maintain “independent finances” and are both “independently well-off.”
“We have raised our children brilliantly; they are beautiful people,” she continued. “We did a great job there and we didn’t have to get married to do that. I like waking up every day and seeing that he is there and knowing that I have a choice. There is really no reason to marry.”
Earlier this year, Hawn noted that divorce is an “ugly” situation that she wouldn’t want to repeat.
“Somebody actually has to take a look and say, ‘How many divorces actually are fun? How many divorces actually don’t cost money?’” she told CNN in July. “‘How many divorces actually make you hate the person more than you did before? How many divorces have hurt children?’”
Russell, meanwhile, told Variety in March that he didn’t understand why people “care” if he and Hawn ever get married, especially because it doesn’t bother their kids.
The pair’s brood have echoed their sentiments over the years. Oliver, 47, exclusively told Us Weekly in 2021 that Russell and Hawn are “amazing grandparents” and their family maintains an incredibly close bond.
“We’re a very tight family,” the Nashville alum, who shares children Wilder, Bodhi and Rio with wife Erin Bartlett, shared. “We all live very close to each other. … They’re amazing people, amazing grandparents, amazing parents.”
Russell and Hawn have continued to work together on screen throughout their relationship, in films like 1987’s Overboard, 2018’s The Christmas Chronicles and its subsequent 2020 sequel, The Christmas Chronicles 2.
Hawn told Variety in March that the pair are very “similar” in the way they approach their careers, calling Russell “extraordinarily brilliant and creative and collaborative” at his craft. Just “not in the kitchen,” she added.
