Tragic Details About Goldie Hawn

Goldie Hawn is one of the world's most beloved movie stars and the joy that she radiates is undeniable, both onscreen and off. But even though Hawn consistently leads with positivity, she has weathered tragedy just like the rest of us. For instance, at the 2025 Academy Awards, Hawn disclosed live on television that she was losing her eyesight. "Sweetheart, can you read that?," she asked co-presenter Andrew Garfield (via E! News). "I can't read that. I'm completely blind. I mean, I am! Cataracts." Garfield sweetly obliged and helped Hawn with the rest of her lines. Garfield also brought Hawn to tears when he told her how much his late mother adored her work, which was one of the most sentimental moments of the evening.

The Oscars cameo even led to an adorable exchange between Hawn and son Oliver Hudson via Instagram, where the witty Hudson joked his mother was not texting him back because she now preferred Garfield to him. Despite the playfullness, reports later emerged that Hawn regretted her disclosure, as she did not mean for her off-the-cuff comment to cause concern. "Goldie is embarrassed that the focus of her Oscar night was her vision issues, it is not something she wanted everyone talking about," an insider source told the Daily Mail. "She was just trying to be funny." Regardless of how the actor herself feels, fans appreciated Hawn's candor and humor in a tough situation. Here are a couple of other tragic details about Oscar winner Goldie Hawn.

There are countless examples of Goldie Hawn demonstrating that she has a huge heart, but perhaps none bigger than the fact that she established her own foundation to deal with the issue of rising rates of depression, anxiety, aggression and suicide in kids. Hawn started MindUP — The Goldie Hawn Foundation in 2003, in part because of the trauma from 9/11 that society was experiencing. Hawn has since become a huge advocate for mental health awareness, often using her own experiences to help destigmatize the topic.

In a 2024 podcast interview on "Making Space with Hoda Kotb," Hawn divulged that her first big break — a role on the television series "Good Morning World" — led to her first bout with panic disorders, which made her fearful to leave her dressing room or socialize. "I didn't know what happened to my joy. I mean, I lost my — I tried to fake my smile. I'll never forget that. It's the scariest thing that has ever happened to me," she recounted.

In an earlier interview with "Good Morning Britain," the actor explained that she also experienced depression during this time period. She also noted that her anxiety and depression was in large part because of fame. "When I was young, I became depressed. I was 21 and I (was) rising to success. I know it sounds terrible, but it's a very, very difficult thing. I didn't necessarily want that," she said. Hawn started seeing a psychologist soon after to establish better coping methods.

Goldie Hawn and her longtime partner Kurt Russell are often referred to as #couplegoals, but Hawn does not think they would be together had they ever married. The bubbly movie star is simply not a fan of marriage — and she has certainly given it her best shot. Hawn was first married in 1969, to Gus Trikonis, an actor, dancer, and director most famous for appearing in "West Side Story." The couple divorced in 1976, which is the same year Hawn married singer Bill Hudson. Hawn and Hudson had two children (actors Kate Hudson and Oliver Hudson) but could not make the marriage work. They split in 1982, and Bill Hudson was largely absent from his children's lives thereafter.

Hawn and Russell got together in 1983, and the latter stepped up to the plate as a father figure for Hawn's two eldest children. They also welcomed a son of their own, actor Wyatt Russell, in 1986 (Kurt also has an older son from his first marriage, Boston Russell). While the couple has had their ups and downs, they have remained together for decades and think it is precisely because they never wed. "I would have been long divorced if I ever married Kurt," Hawn said on the British talk show "Loose Women" in 2016. "Marriage ends up being a business deal because at the end of a marriage, no matter how long or short it is, somebody owes somebody money...I was on the short end of the stick on that once."