Goldie Hawn & Kurt Russell Have Been Going Strong for Nearly 4 Decades Despite Never Saying Their Vows | “We Didn’t Care”

"It’s not about the marriage, it’s about the people and the relationship, and the will to stay together," said Goldie Hawn.

Cover Image Source: Getty Images | Jesse Grant

By Priyanjali Narayan

March 10, 2023

Posted March 10, 2023

Even if you have been in a loving relationship for decades, society might keep reminding you to get married. This happened to Kurt Russell and Goldie Hawn who have been by each other's side for the last 40 years but have decided to not get married, per TODAY. The two first met on the set of The One and Only, Genuine, Original Family Band, which was released when Hawn was 22 and Russell was 17. After watching a few auditions, Russell's mother predicted that Hawn would land the role.

“My mom leaned into me and said, ‘You see that blonde with a funny haircut? She’s gonna get the job.’ And sure enough, she did,” Russell, 71, told Variety in a recent interview. “I thought she was awfully attractive. You couldn’t miss her. She just had this energy about her,” he added. In 2012, Hawn, 77, recalled their meeting on set in an interview with PEOPLE, saying Russell was "adorable, but he was much too young."

They reconnected 17 years later while filming Swing Shift in 1983, one year after Hawn separated from her former husband, Bill Hudson, with whom she shares Oliver Hudson and Kate Hudson. "I remembered that I liked him very much when I first met him," she told PEOPLE. "But we both said we would never go out with another actor so it just shows you never can tell."

Young Goldie Hawn and Kurt Russel are my favorite. They stole my heart since Overboard. pic.twitter.com/3Nd6HQKtZi
— essa mee (@mangoozy95) May 18, 2019

But life had different plans for Russel and Hawn. They started dating soon and welcomed their son, Wyatt, in 1986. After starring in several movies together like Overboard and raising their children, the two have shown tremendous love, respect, and support to each other. However, they stood firm in their choice to not get married. But, while presenting the award for the best director during the 1989 Oscars, the couple teased the idea of getting married in a bit they came up with because they didn’t like what was written for them.

“We’re taking a shower together, getting ready to go,” Russell said, “and we looked at each other and said, ‘There’s gonna be a lot of people watching, so let’s get this right.’ And we started punching it back and forth for about 20 minutes. We didn’t tell anybody anything about going off-script.” Although people assumed that their banter was a real exchange, Russell confirmed to Variety, 30 years later, that it was, indeed, made up. “At that time, we constantly got asked, ‘When are you going to get married? Why aren’t you married?’ And we were like, ‘Why does anybody care about that?’ We’d asked our kids if they cared about it. They didn’t. We didn’t," he said.

Cover Image Source: Getty Images | Vince Bucci — Image Source: Getty Images | Vince Bucci

Despite never saying their vows, the couple is going strong. In 2020, Hawn opened up to PEOPLE about their decades-long relationship, saying, “You’ve just got to want to be together. I don’t think there’s any way other than do it,” adding "It’s not about the marriage." She said, "It’s about the people and the relationship and the will to stay together. And that’s a big one because if you want it, you can have it. You’ve got to give things up, but the joy and the excitement of being together and touching the toes of somebody at night is really a nice feeling."