You’d be hard pressed to think of a movie icon who’s been making us smile for longer than Goldie Hawn.
From the time the bubbly blonde first hit Hollywood with her Oscar-winning role opposite Ingrid Bergman and Walter Matthau in 1969’s Cactus Flower, followed by star turns in everything from There’s a Girl in My Soup to Shampoo and Private Benjamin, Goldie has captivated moviegoers around the globe.
And as the eternally sunny performer has shown with her latest role – opposite fellow funny-girl Amy Schumer who plays her daughter in Snatched – Goldie still has it. In spades!
“Making movies is such a privilege and anyone who does it should literally get down on their knees in gratitude, because it’s a wonderful way to make a living,” says Goldie.
Goldie, whose role in Snatched was her first in 15 years, describes Amy as “a genius in many ways”.
“She is so talented and funny,” she says. “She is also smart, decisive and incredibly instinctive. She is sort of like everybody else, but not like anyone else, and that’s what’s so beguiling and compelling about her.”
Yet while Goldie adores making others laugh, there’s one thing more than any other that truly fills the mother of three with joy – her own family.
“A good family is the answer to happiness,” she says. “I look at our kids and grandchildren and there’s nothing in the world that could make me as proud as I am of all them.
“Being a grandmother is amazing, I love it. It brings incredible joy. Family is so important.”
Indeed, Goldie – who is in a relationship with actor Kurt Russell – treasures time spent with her clan, including her screen-star daughter Kate Hudson, to whom she has always been particularly close.
“Kate and I have the kind of relationship that I had with my mother,” she reflects candidly. “We laugh so much together. Once we went to a yoga retreat and we could not stop laughing. We both knew we didn’t have to say anything – we would just start laughing.
“The same thing happened that had occurred with my mother. A young woman came up to us and said, ‘I cannot tell you how beautiful your relationship is. I do not have that with my mum, and I wish I had it.”
Goldie believes some people harbour a “fear of intimacy” with their children.
But as she says sagely, “If you don’t share things with them in an intimate way, then you’re not a person to them – you’re just a mum.”
Adds Goldie: “It’s all about laughter, shared secrets, long talks, philosophy, heart-to-hearts about children, pain, loss, boyfriends. You have to talk about it all to your mother, but so many girls are defensive about all that. That’s because often the mother doesn’t give herself the way she should and open the doorway into the heart.”
Married twice before, Goldie has been blissfully in love with Kurt for 34 years – a feat particularly remarkable in Tinseltown, where a film run has been known to outlast a relationship.
“It was all consuming,” she says of the start of their romance. “It’s been that way for 34 years, that’s why it has lasted.”
Also important to Goldie is the desire to give back. In 2003 the actress launched The Hawn Foundation – an organisation that aims to equip children with the social and emotional skills that help them become resilient, productive and compassionate in today’s world.
“It is beyond rewarding, maybe the most rewarding thing I have ever done,” says Goldie of the work. “My dream was to give tools to children in the classroom, so that they can manage their fear, their anger and their stress.”
How does Goldie Hawn stay fit?
Meanwhile it’s staying fit, meditating regularly and eating and sleeping well that, Goldie firmly believes, keeps her young in mind and body.
“Meditation creates peace and calm and contentment, which I think is extremely important for life,” she says.
“I drink my green juices and I try to work out regularly and eat as healthily as I can.
“I take my supplements and I try to get a lot of sleep. Kurt will say, ‘Are you going to bed already?’ and I say, ‘Yes’. I like to be in bed by 10 o’clock at the latest. Sleep makes a huge difference to how you feel and how you cope with everything.”
Certainly Goldie was at her best when she made her much-anticipated return to showbiz for Snatched. And she couldn’t have enjoyed it more.
“I didn’t know I missed it as much as I did until after I had done the movie,” she reflects. “The actual experience of making the film brought back a lot of really good memories and I was thinking it would be fun to do more films again.
“With Snatched, people can look forward to laughing a lot,” she says, chirpily. “And right now, we need to laugh a lot.”
