Goldie Hawn's Health Condition Explained

Goldie Hawn and her longtime partner Kurt Russell have long been Hollywood royalty — as evidenced by a throwback video from 1989 Hawn once posted of her and Russell at the Oscars — and everyone knows it, including Andrew Garfield. At the 2025 Oscars, Andrew Garfield and acting legend Goldie Hawn presented the award for Best Animated Feature, which went to "Flow." While this win gave the country Latvia its first Oscar, but that's not all people were talking about online. Fans couldn't help but swoon over and also empathize with Garfield's treatment of Hawn.

Andrew Garfield to Goldie Hawn: "There's a person that gave my mother during her life the most joy, the most comfort and tonight I feel very lucky because I get to thank that person from the bottom of my heart. That person is Goldie Hawn."#Oscarshttps://t.co/nl9CxOviL4 pic.twitter.com/ZECLT3Imk4

— ABC News (@ABC) March 3, 2025

At one point, he stopped reading the teleprompter and spoke from the heart. Grabbing Hawn's hand, Garfield shared the sweet-yet-heartbreaking reason he was so thrilled to be partnered up with Hawn to present this award. His late mother absolutely adored Hawn and Garfield got to thank her for "[giving his] mother, during her life, the most joy and the most comfort." Shortly after that touching moment, Hawn asked if Garfield could read her lines on the teleprompter because she couldn't see them, explaining to everyone: "I'm completely blind. I am, I've got the cataracts." 

Cataracts are common in people as they grow older and affect a person's vision in various ways, from making images blurry to completely wiping out all sight. According to the National Eye Institute (NEI), having a cataract means a cloudy area has formed over the lens of the eye. They're not always noticeable at first, but if left untreated a person's vision becomes seriously affected. Images may suddenly appear hazy or blurred, color vibrancy can diminish, and reading becomes difficult. A person also could experience sensitivity to light, which isn't ideal for anyone unless you live in a dark cave.

Goldie Hawn is part of approximately 17% of the population who have cataracts, according to the World Health Organization, so she's not a unique case (via Cleveland Clinic). The NEI explained that more than 50% of all people in the U.S. age 80 or older will have cataracts. So, if you or a loved one has cataracts, don't despair. It's a super common condition — and it's treatable.

Per an article from WebMD that was medically reviewed by Whitney Seltman, OD, there are over 10 different types of cataracts, including nuclear cataracts, which are the most common. In the majority of cases, cataracts develop due to age. And, while Hawn looks as stunning as ever, she was born in 1945, so it's not a big shocker she has developed cataracts considering her age. Believe it or not, the film icon has been gracing our TV screens since the late 1960s, starring in gems like "Overboard," "The First Wives Club," and the two "Christmas Chronicles" movies with her longtime partner, Kurt Russell. 

While cataracts typically affect older people, they can develop at any stage of life, including infancy. According to Dr. Erick D. Bothun, a pediatric eye surgeon at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota, cataracts can develop in younger people "whether from complex genetic disease, a firecracker injury in an older child, or a birth defect in a newborn" (via Mayo Clinic). Cataracts can also develop from trauma to the eye or illness.

If someone is diagnosed with cataracts, surgery can be done to remove them. While the thought of going under the knife may be scary, the NEI says this surgery is completely safe and will fix vision problems caused by the cataracts. WebMD notes that a typical cataract surgery takes less than 30 minutes and a patient is given local anesthesia instead of general anesthesia, meaning the person is awake during the procedure but their eyes are numbed.

Goldie Hawn is in good company with fellow celebrities who've had cataracts. Per the American Academy of Ophthalmology, Claude Monet, a French painter who helped found Impressionism, reportedly had cataracts, but they were fixed when he got surgery. "That '70s Show" star Mila Kunis also developed the condition in one of her eyes, telling Cosmopolitan back in 2011, "I was blind in one eye for many years, and nobody knew" (via the  Daily Mail). The cataract formed despite her being so young because of iritis, which means her iris, or the colored section of the eye, became inflamed. Surgery fixed the problem. Moreover, the late Larry King of "Larry King Live" fame underwent cataract surgery in 2009 at 75 years old. After the surgery, he was seen by paparazzi wearing an eye patch. 

Something many don't know about "Today" show co-anchor Savannah Guthrie is that she also had cataract surgery. She developed cataracts after undergoing retinal reattachment surgery — a procedure she had to endure after her young son accidentally threw a toy at her eye and injured it, making her temporarily blind. In 2020, Guthrie explained on "Today" how the cataracts came to be and that she was briefly stepping away from her job to have the procedure and recuperate. "I'm super excited. I feel like it's Christmas morning," she said on "Today" in a video that was uploaded to X, formerly known as Twitter. "If they remove this cataract, I'll really be able to see and I've had a hard time seeing."  The surgery was successful.