Goldie Hawn shares secret to 40-year relationship with Kurt Russell

Goldie Hawn has revealed the secret to her 40-year relationship with partner Kurt Russell.

The Hollywood couple first met while filming The One and Only, Genuine, Original Family Band in 1967, and later got together during the filming of Swing Shift in 1983.

The Private Benjamin star, 78, told E! News that “you have to have good sex” if you want a romance to last.

“Because sex is something that connects you and creates more belonging,” she explained, while attending the Love-In Gala, an event celebrating the 20th anniversary of her charitable foundation’s mental health programme MindUP.

“People who have healthy sexual relationships usually last a lot longer. But it’s not just because of the act, it’s because of the warmth and the intimacy that it creates.”

“You have to be nice to each other upon occasion,” she added, before suggesting that it’s important to accept that two people in a relationship will often have different opinions.

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“You know you’re not the same person,” she said. “You don’t think the same way oftentimes. And you have to accept that, but you have to measure, ‘Are we having fun, or is this something we want to do? Do we have laughs together? Do we share certain things?’ You don’t have to share everything.”

Hawn and Russell, 73, are parents to actor Wyatt Russell, 38, and both have children from their previous marriages. Hawn is mother to actors Kate, 45, and Oliver Hudson, 48, who she shares with former husband Bill Hudson, while Russell also has a son, Boston, with ex-wife Season Hubley.

After Swing Shift, they went on to star alongside each other on Overboard in 1987, and later played Mr and Mrs Claus in Netflix movie The Christmas Chronicles in 2018, before reprising their roles in a 2020 sequel.

Although the couple have been together for four decades, they have never got married.

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In 2023, Hawn opened up about their decision not to tie the knot in an interview with CNN.

The star explained that her and Russell’s past relationships had taught them that when a marriage breaks down, “it’s always ugly”.

“Somebody has to take a look and say, ‘How many divorces are fun? How many divorces actually don’t cost money? How many divorces make you hate the person more than you did before? How many divorces have hurt children?’” she said.

“I like the idea that I can wake up in the morning and make decisions every day if I want to be here,” she added. “Ultimately, staying independent with independent thinking is important. So you can hold on to yourself and you’re going to actually have that feeling.”