There are first dates, and then there’s Goldie Hawn and Kurt Russell’s first date: a movie premiere, dancing at The Playboy Club, and breaking into Hawn’s new home only to be interrupted mid-coitus by the police. “It was a lot of fun, I’ll tell you what,” Russell divulged during an appearance on Harry. “I can’t believe it was a long time ago.”
How long ago? Forty years, to be exact—and the couple is still going strong. Though they’ve never officially tied the knot, the two have stuck by each other’s sides through thick and thin: work, child-rearing, aging, and much more. “It’s not about the marriage,” Hawn told People in 2020. “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.”
In other words, it seems both stars view love as a choice—and they definitely keep choosing each other. For more about one of the greatest Hollywood romances of all time, here’s a timeline tracing Goldie Hawn and Kurt Russell’s inspiring love story through the ages.
1966: Goldie Hawn and Kurt Russell meet
Who would have thought it would be the live-action Disney movie The One and Only, Genuine, Original Family Band that would brought these two powerhouses together? In 1966, Hawn’s star was still rising thanks to her role in the sketch comedy series Rowan & Martin’s Laugh-In, and Russell was transitioning from a child actor to more grown-up roles.
During their initial meeting, there wasn’t exactly an immediate spark. “I was 21 and he was 16 and I thought he was adorable but he was much too young,” Hawn told the BBC Radio 4 program “Desert Island Discs” in 2012. “And then 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.”
