Tragic Details About Goldie Hawn

The following article includes mention of mental health.

Growing up, Goldie Hawn had one dream: to become the best dancer she could be. In a bid to get closer to her dream, she moved to New York and lived in deplorable conditions as a struggling dancer to make ends meet. Hawn eventually worked her way to becoming an acting powerhouse and made appearances in several hilarious comedy shows. Her role on the NBC sketch show "Rowan & Martin's Laugh-in" became her breakthrough and opened her up to a world of many possibilities, including the highest honor of all: an Academy Award for the best actress in a supporting role for playing Toni Simmons in the Gene Saks-directed "Cactus Flower."

A huge chunk of Hawn's identity was being the "funny, crazy, spontaneous girl," as she recalled in a chat with Harvard Business Review, and although she was in the business of making other people laugh, the actor didn't always have a smile on her face when the cameras were turned off. Hawn has experienced a series of low moments, including anxiety that kicked in at the start of her career, parenting woes, and setbacks in her romantic relationships.

Goldie Hawn and "Under the Silver Lake" actor Andrew Garfield stepped on stage to present an award together at the 2025 Academy Awards. The pair had a heartfelt interaction, during which Garfield thanked Hawn for having an endearing relationship with his late mom, Lynn, who died of pancreatic cancer in 2019.

When it was time to announce the winner of the best animated short film category, the duo's dialogue revealed Hawn's struggle with a health condition. "Okay. Sweetheart, can you read that? I can't read that," Hawn told Garfield (via CNN), and added, "I'm completely blind. I mean, I am." The actor proceeded to light-heartedly reveal the reason for her request: "Cataracts."

Research shows that cataracts are common in people within Hawn's age bracket — the "Town & Country" actor turned 79 in November 2024 — and are characterized by cloudy vision. People who have cataracts also experience night blindness and can't see well under bright lights, but there's good news: the condition is treatable. The effects of cataracts can be temporarily controlled using magnifying lenses and prescription glasses during early stages, and a more permanent solution is surgery.

As a little girl, Goldie Hawn had no desire to be in the spotlight. The legendary actor "always read about how screwed up Hollywood was," as she told her daughter, Kate Hudson, in a joint conversation on Interview, and she wanted to stay as far as she could from the film industry. However, it was only a matter of time before her dance career led her closer to Tinseltown as part of the cast of the theatre production, "Pat Joey." In summation, Hawn became popular even before she was ever cast on a television show.

Hawn found it hard to adapt to her new life. "I really didn't want to go outside, I really lost my smile, I didn't feel joyful, I was scared. I was afraid," she shared in a chat with People. "And you know, it wasn't anxiety. There were, like, panic attacks, which are different. And, you know, your heart would race and sometimes you didn't even know when it was going to come over you."

To cope with the sudden change, Hawn eventually turned to a psychologist, with whom she worked for an eight-year period. The process helped her have a more positive outlook on life, and she's since used her platform to advocate for better mental health as the founder of MindUP.

Goldie Hawn is a mom of three who takes pride in being a great parent. In an interview with People, the actor revealed that she was impressed by her children's parenting skills and attributed their prowess to her own mothering. "My children are really great with their children," Hawn told the publication. "As a parent, you basically raise your children to raise their children appropriately as well. So that's that domino effect." True to her word, Hawn has a great relationship with her daughter, Kate Hudson, especially since they are the only girls in the family.

Hawn's nurturing has had its own fair share of flaws, as her son, Oliver Hudson, revealed on a March 2024 episode of "Sibling Revelry with Kate Hudson and Oliver Hudson." Speaking on his upbringing, Oliver said, "My mother was the one that I had almost the most trauma about, interestingly enough, because she was my primary caregiver and I was with her all of the time." The father of three further disclosed that he didn't entirely feel safe with Hawn. "I felt unprotected at times," he expressed. "She would be working and away or she had new boyfriends that I didn't really like. She would be living her life."

According to Oliver, his dad, Bill Hudson, wasn't always present in his life, but whenever he showed up, he made up for his absence since they spent a lot of quality time together. Nevertheless, Oliver still formed a great rapport with Hawn and his step-dad, Kurt Russell, whom Oliver moved in with when he was renovating his home in 2022.

For a long time, Goldie Hawn and Kurt Russell lived in the Pacific Palisades. Hawn loved living in Los Angeles for the feistiness of its residents; she was particularly fascinated by the free-spirited dwellers of Venice, whom she said were "very happy to be crazy" in an interview with "Loose Women." As it turned out, Los Angeles had its disadvantages, too, and for Hawn, it came in the form of home invasions.

In an interview with "Let's Talk Off Camera with Kelly Ripa," Hawn disclosed that her home had been broken into twice within a span of four months. "LA is terrible," the actor remarked and proceeded to reveal that the first burglary happened while they went out to dinner. She only found out about it when it was bedtime. "I went up to the stairs ... and I walked into my closet and I just lost it," Hawn narrated. "They had broken in from the balcony to our bedroom, our closets and they completely knocked down my door, which is a safe door, so they are very, very sophisticated. And they got a lot of my goodies."

According to Hawn, the second intrusion happened when she was inside her home. One of the burglars, Marcelo Romelo, was eventually caught in October 2019 after a Ventura County robbery. Hawn and Russell have since decided to settle in Palm Desert, and although the city still has a couple of break-ins, she is impressed by the speed with which perpetrators are brought to book.

The COVID-19 pandemic brought the world to a halt in early 2020. COVID-19-related restrictions began in March 2020, and amid travel bans across numerous states, most people endured lockdown within the confines of their homes. In a chat with "Good Morning Britain," Goldie Hawn recognized how privileged she was to be able to have access to help during lockdown.

"We're very, very lucky and I'm incredibly grateful," Hawn expressed in a conversation with veteran on-air personality, Piers Morgan, and additionally expressed that she empathized with those who weren't as fortunate. "What I do feel is a tremendous angst, a tremendous sadness," the "Overboard" actor said. "I find that every day, honestly, I cry probably three times a day because it hurts me to think that there is abuse going on. There is anger going on."

In a bid to ease the somber atmosphere, Hawn took to social media to urge her followers to participate in the "laughing challenge." While asking others to post videos of themselves, their pets, and families in a happy mood, Hawn led by example and giggled uncontrollably as her partner, Kurt Russell, tickled her with a leafy branch.

Goldie Hawn and actor Eileen Brennan were co-stars in the 1980 film, "Private Benjamin," for which they both received Academy Award nominations. In the film, Brennan's character, Captain Doreen Lewis, gives Hawn's character, Judy Benjamin, a hard time as she trains in the Army, but the duo's relationship off camera was a more joyful one.

Hawn and Brennan's friendship had its hard times, and one such moment was in 1982. As the two friends were reportedly saying goodbye to each other after a dinner in Venice, California, Hawn witnessed Brennan getting hit by a car in the street. Brennan sustained major injuries from the impact, while Hawn was lucky to leave the scene unscathed. However, the pair was faced with a legal war since the driver of the car, Ronald Guajardo, blamed them for negligence in a multi-million dollar lawsuit. Guajardo also sued the city, with claims that it was responsible for lack of proper lighting.

The experience did not appear to put a stain on Hawn and Brennan's friendship. When Brennan died of bladder cancer in July 2013, Hawn took to X, formerly known as Twitter, to share a sweet tribute, writing, "We have lost my old friend Eileen Brennan. No one ever made me laugh more! Now I cry. Please keep singing darling from on high. Rest."

Bill Hudson and Goldie Hawn were married in 1976, and from the onset, the duo had a troubled relationship. The former couple finally called it quits in 1981, after welcoming their two children, Oliver and Kate Hudson. Following their split, Bill moved on with the late actor, Cindy Williams. Bill and Williams were married in 1982 and went on to have a total of three children together.

Bill has a great relationship with three of his five children — excluding Oliver and Kate Hudson — and considers himself a father of three. In a 2015 conversation with Daily Mail, Bill claimed that the strain in their relationship was the result of direct sabotage on Hawn's part. "I call it parental alienation," the former Hudson Brothers vocalist told the publication. "We had a custody arrangement but Goldie constantly flouted it. I'd turn up to see the kids and would discover Goldie had taken them on the private jet to her home in Colorado."

According to Bill, this wasn't always the case because he chose to live close to his children after he and Hawn got divorced. "I was a part of their lives for years," the ex-musician recalled. "Kate and Oliver came over at weekends, there were family holidays."

Goldie Hawn shares a son, Wyatt Russell, with her longtime partner, Kurt Russell. Wyatt is a retired hockey player who's since transitioned to acting and is married to fellow actor Meredith Hagner. Wyatt and Hagner have two children of their own — Buddy Prine Russell, who was born in 2021, and his sibling, Boone Joseph Russell, who arrived in 2024.

When the raging Pacific Palisades fire struck California in January 2025, Hagner revealed through a series of posts on her Instagram Stories that she and her family had to vacate their homes. "My little family is safe. Not sure about our house but –- I'm so lucky," Hagner wrote in one post (via Hello!). "But man do I love our special seaside community so deeply. Heart wrenching." She additionally disclosed that the entire Russell-Hudson family lived in close proximity to each other.

At the February 2025 Critics Choice Awards, Hagner had an update on their living arrangement: the Russell-Hagner brood had found temporary shelter in Palm Desert, thanks to the generosity of her sister-in-law, Kate Hudson. Hagner and Wyatt's family eventually moved to a rented house Aspen, Colorado, and in another set of Instagram Stories posts, she shared her anticipation for a fresh start.

When Goldie Hawn began working as a dancer, she was nothing like the bankable star she's grown to become. Hawn only made $25 for every night she worked, but it was enough for her to get by. The actor recalled on her joint Interview chat with Kate Hudson, "I was able to make my rent, with the four girls I lived with. It was a challenge, but I never once said, 'One day I'm going to do this and that' ... I never looked at life that way. I just saw where I was and knew that I was going to continue to move on with my career."

As she had predicted, Hawn began to command high acting fees and even closed a $30 million deal with Disney's Hollywood Pictures division in the early '90s. The rise to the top of the acting food chain came at a cost, since she had to carry the burden of being the higher-earning partner in her relationships. "Back in the day I remember thinking, 'Well, we'll just put everything in a pot ... we'll do this, and it'll all be cool,'" Hawn recalled on "The School of Greatness" podcast, adding that the differences between her and her partners began to show "when you buy a house and they don't own it or they own part of it but not enough."

The actor, of course, eventually settled with Kurt Russell. Hawn and Russell chose not to marry, but unlike some of Hawn's previous lovers, Russell can pull his own weight financially. In his acting prime, Russell had a minimum of around $2 million acting fee, and, in 1993, he was reportedly paid $7 million for starring alongside James Spader and Jaye Davidson in "Stargate."

Goldie Hawn took a break from the big screen in 2002, following her role alongside Susan Sarandon in "The Banger Sisters." While on hiatus, the actor took an interest in psychology, as she explained in her joint Interview chat with Kate Hudson: "I started learning about the brain, psychology. And after 9/11, I decided, 'I know what I'm going to do.' I ended up writing two books and creating MindUP."

In 2017, Hawn ended her years-long break and returned as Emily Middleton's (Amy Schumer) mom, Linda Middleton, in the comedic film, "Snatched." Hawn's comeback was received well by her family, but the same could not be said for the general public. Given its star-studded cast, which included comedian Wanda Sykes, the movie was expected to do well. However, it failed to be a box office hit and grossed $19.5 million in its opening week against a reported $42 million budget.

The film further had Hawn nominated in the worst supporting actress category at the 2018 Razzie Awards. Hawn was up against Kim Basinger in "Fifty Shades Darker," Sofia Boutella, who was nominated for her role in "The Mummy," "Transformers XVII: Last Knight" actor Laura Haddock, and Susan Sarandon in "A Bad Moms Christmas." The award — which is in no way an actor's honor — was won by Basinger.

If you or someone you know needs help with mental health, please contact the Crisis Text Line by texting HOME to 741741, call the National Alliance on Mental Illness helpline at 1-800-950-NAMI (6264), or visit the National Institute of Mental Health website.