I won’t mince words, I love Goldie Hawn and I’m so glad she’s back in the spotlight, even though the vehicle for her return is Snatched.
The 71-year-old actress has been making the promotional rounds and spoke with Harper’s Bazaar about the new movie, her career and ageism in Hollywood. She shared the story of how Amy Schumer snatched her for the role of her on-screen mother. Amy has said that she “accosted” Goldie on a flight and asked her to take on the part. Goldie recalled the meeting, not knowing who Amy was but confessing, “I could have eaten her face, she was so damn cute.” Here are some more highlights from the interview, which appears in the magazine’s June/July issue, hitting newsstands on May 23.
On The First Wives Club and sexism in Hollywood: “Even though we were all stars, [Hollywood] was nervous about the movie…we all took a cut in our salary, we all took a cut in our back end. Because the studios were never sanguine on trusting that women carrying a movie would actually work.”
On ageism in show business: “You think you’re going to fight the system? You think you’re going to prove to Hollywood when you hit 45 that you’re still a sexy, viable object? No. There’s a certain reality. Does it make me angry? No. I’m not an angry person. I’m not a militant person. Anger doesn’t get you anywhere. It’s not productive.”
On raising feminist eyebrows while playing a ditzy bombshell on the ‘60s TV show Laugh-In: “An editor from a women’s magazine came up to me and said, ‘Don’t you feel terrible that you’re playing a dumb blonde?’ I said, ‘I don’t understand that question because I’m already liberated. Liberation comes from the inside.’”On making her return to the big screen in Snatched: “A break from anything we do sometimes is a good thing. And I forgot how much fun it was. I forgot about the perks. Three months in the best hotel ever, looking out at the water. When I had to pack up and leave, I shed a tear. We held each other on our last shot and we cried. I came out of that going, ‘Yeah, I could do it again.’”
I love this interview, and I love the photos, which were taken be Terry Richardson. Yes, THAT Terry Richardson. These are the least skeevy photos I’ve ever seen from him. The photographer must have found a muse in Goldie, as he gushed over working with her on Instagram. He posted a few pictures from the shoot and said, “Life highlight! It is so rare to meet someone who exceeds your expectations but that is exactly what happened when I photographed @officialgoldiehawn I have never met someone so effervescent and energetic. Thank you, Goldie for this amazing experience!” You got that right, Terry.
I haven’t seen Snatched and I probably won’t until it hits Redbox, but I love Goldie so much. I used to like Amy Schumer back before she got exhausting. I over her on Last Comic Standing, when she gave me a “funny Linda Blair from Roller Boogie” kind of vibe. (Once you see the similarity, you’ll never be able to un-see it.) Goldie is a legend and we need more of her on the screen. Speaking of which, where is our First Wives Club sequel? That’s what I’m talking about.
Photos: Harper’s Bazaar, WENN.com
I am loving Goldie getting all this attention again. She is a goddamn delight and her and kurt are my total relationship goals. Love them. Love her
+1000
I like her. She seems down to earth and genuinely content with her life as well as ageing. It’s inspiring.
I love her spirit. I love her personality. I love her work.
I do not love the fillers or any of the other choices to look like it’s still 1985.
Goldie, evolve your physical being, just as you’ve evolved your spiritual side.
Why? It’s her choice. I don’t see anything wrong with fillers. Whatever makes a person feel good and makes them happy. It is relatively common these days, don’t see what the big deal is.
The fillers were actually really distracting in Snatched, she could barely talk her face was so full and frozen. Shame as I love Goldie.
I think she’s great too. These photos of her are wonderful. And while her fillers are sometimes overdone a bit – she looks great right now. More power to her.
I feel ya Corey, I love Goldie too. Last night I saw snatched – for a movie sandwiched between 2 screens of Guardians of the GAlaxy, the theatre was full — and a surprising mix of ages, ethnicities, etc. The good news is, the movie is funny – the bad news is, Rotten Tomatoes is probably going to kill it.
I love Goldie Hawn. She really is a charming person and a darn-good actress. I wish she would have done comedy on TV like Lucille Ball and Carol Burnett; that would have been awesome because she is a natural-born comedienne.
She DID do television comedy. Three years of sketch comedy on “Rowan & Martin’s Laugh-In,” late ’60s. She probably would have gone on to a sitcom, but she won an Oscar during that time (a rare Academy Award for a comedic role).
FWC is a tv show coming to you in the autumn starring Alison Hannigan
http://variety.com/2016/tv/news/vanessa-lachey-first-wives-club-tv-land-cast-1201807200/
Ironic isn’t it? In the film, they are older women in their 50’s whose husbands leave them for women about the same age or younger than the women now starring in this remake. They couldn’t have cast women in their 40s or 50s for this?
Don’t know about the others, but Alyson Hannigan is 43…
Alison Hannigan is 43 – other than that I agree. Nowaydays a woman over 30 is considered old by HW standards – look at all those women in their 30’s playing mothers of young adult or almost adult children on tv! Producers don’t even want to consider that a woman in her 50’s can have a sex life.
Okay, I didn’t know Alison Hannigan’s age. But, my point still stands.
You know she did that dumb blonde thing to cash a check in the 60s. Definitely a humble person by calling Amy Schumer (of all people) “cute”.
She said on WWHL just last week that talks for the First Wives Club sequel collapsed because of script issues. Neither of them are not interested in soiling the original with a bad sequel, so its been dropped.
I’ve loved her since “Seems Like Old Times” with Chevy Chase.
Foul Play is my favorite movie with Goldie. Chevy was marvelous in that too.
‘Kojak, bang-bang!’
Goldie’s best may have been “Overboard.”
Yay Goldie!
I love the way these white privileged Americans say cute things ‘liberation comes from the inside’ as they walk down the street, free to do as they please with their life.
So many women around the world are oppressed, sex slaves, in arranged marriages, child brides, don’t have the vote, have their genitalia mutilated and on and on it goes…
Goldie is harmless enough but damn it, this comment had my eyes rolling so far back in my head I saw all the way to New Zealand.
Well, she can only speak from her own experience and it was in direct response to someone’s critique of her work. She didn’t feel defined by the role since she was confident in who she was.
I agree Snowpea. Her comments are so gross.
I really don’t understand why she gets a pass on this site.
Nostalgia is a hell of a drug. Attacking her would be like attacking their childhoods.
But she has clearly stated: she is not a militant. Even if I don’t agree with her I think she was talking only for herself.
Agreed @Snowpea. If Sarandon had said this all the CB crowd would be booing her.
She is a happy-go-lucky hippy-chic lady who seems sweet. But she does not get a pass for this. Just a shrug.
Really? She should have replied citing FGM when asked in the sixties about being a kook in a comedy show? Good lord. Maybe thrown a critique of Das Kapital in there too? Presumably then she could have been criticised as a white feminist who dared to have an opinion about something she had not herself experienced. There is nothing gross about her comments, they are at worst rather naive and self centred. Hardly surprising given she was about 20 at the time.
What is gross is that she is 70 now, and still thinks her comment from 50 years ago was a smart one. If only all of us could become a bit wiser with age, right?
I just don’t think that as women, we should be passing judgement on how women view themselves and how we choose to relate our individual experiences to others. She’s an actress, not an academic nor an activist.
For all we know, she and many other privileged women have given time and money to causes you cite. This was a quote responding to a question; I don’t think it’s fair to expect her to respond in a certain way.
The problem with Hawn’s statement is that she says she doesn’t care because she is liberated from within. That’s the major issue for me. She can choose to be a dumb blonde on screen and liberated within, and in her personal life.
Society, in the meantime, propagates and imposes the cliché she helped build.
Of course this was a different time. It’s the fact that she quotes herself with pride NOW that is confusing, to say the least. Her position did not change one yota.
It came across as if she meant ” I KNOW being a woman and having some conventionally attractive feature like blonde hair doesn’t make a woman a ditz, so I’m not going to waste time and energy obsessing and worrying about never playing a certain kind of character just to disprove a stereotype. I’m liberated from that.” Still a very self-focused, short answer, but it’s not offensive like saying “We’re all liberated now” or “There is no more patriarchy. What are Western Women complaining about?
Stupid characters can be hilarious, even though the Dumb Blonde thing is grating sometimes (and I’m not even a blonde) because it plays into the idea of women only being able to be one thing and having to be dumbed down because men find them hot. But I also don’t think the categories a person falls under should mean them having to stay away from playing certain types of characters in order to prove a stereotype wrong either.
@slowsnow Preach!
Agreed, Snowpea. I would have loved if she had just copped to working the dumb blond stereotype, as Dolly Parton has, instead of this whole “above it all” air she is clearly trying to cultivate. She can afford to not be angry and “liberate” herself because she is/was a rich white woman who everyone thinks is cute and non-threatening.
I don’t see how what she said is much different from Dolly’s it doesn’t bother me because I know I’m not dumb and I know I’m not blonde comment.
Snowpea, many women from oppressed situations say exactly what Goldie said. You can find autobiographies and interviews from women in every horrible situation and it always amazes me that some say they forgive their captors; they kept their hearts and minds free at all times. There are many people of various colors, religions, nationalities who would agree with her.
Well you’ll have to roll back your eyes to the late 60’s too, and your 20 something self, as that is when she said it. Actually for a 20 something woman in the 60’s it is a pretty good remark. Do you really expect her to talk in depth about the struggles of feminism like they do now. Not a current topic of the time. Fifty years of struggle later yeah it seems a bit different. However, it certainly is a lot better than some of these young celebrity women talking about feminism today. I don’t think she is getting a pass, as someone said like Susan Sarandon. Susan has been an activist telling us not to vote for Hillary and yeah that has been good, Goldie not so much. Goldie is still working at 70 trying to show all of the younger women how you make a career even though the system is against you.
I know right? Put it in the context… she was on that show from 1968 to 1970. The Pill had only been available for 8 years and as of 1965, it was still illegal in half of the US states for single women. Back then, you could still get fired for being pregnant. Needed your husband to cosign if you wanted a credit card. Yale and Princeton didn’t accept female students until 1969, Havard, 1977. Goldie has always been a DGAF kind of woman, living her life as she wants to and not particularly caring about how “convention” says she should. Where feminism is today is a very different place than it was then.
The “not sexy” comment was specifically talking about HW and how the white old men movers and shakers perceive women over a certain age. That’s a very narrow context.
THIS.
And also, Western women didn’t get ANY of their rights by being ‘liberated from the inside’ either.
This just screamed gated community living, Malibu beach house, Hollywood celebrity, New Age from the rooftops. It’s probably a Tony Robbins quote she listens to in her morning affirmations. Nothing wrong with that but you might sound ridiculous to the rest of the world.
Then of course Goldie will discover the publicity and the feelings of superiority she will experience when she becomes, say, chairwoman of a charity devoted to women in situations as mentioned above, giving speeches at fancy gala dinners in designer gowns.
I think that depends on how you view things. I’m just going to say as an attractive blond with a relatively high IQ, men have for the most part, completely underestimated me to (their own detriment) all of my life. That stereotype… The choice has been “use that stupidity” to my advantage to get where I want to go and have the power to NOT propogate those or other idiotic stereotypes, or to tip my hand early on and lose a tactical advantage out of ego. It’s not my job to educate people who are stupid enough to think that way, they eventually learn the hard way and there is no little satisafaction in that. Going head to head suits the personalities of some people. Subterfuge from the inside and teaching moronic idiots in a way they will never forget that stereotypes are not reality suits the personalities of others. One is not better than the other if both drive the point home. Goldie I suspect, is of the latter category. When you look at the crop of today’s celebrities who rely on fake relationships, sex tapes, fake social media BS etc, despite being talented (some of them), she’s a much better role model than 95% of them.
Beauty/sexiness is in the eye of the beholder. Hawn is, by many, still viewed as sexy,*relevant and very intelligent and she’s well over 45.
That quote bothered me, too. I am 55, have wrinkles, an extra 10 pounds, but I feel that I am sexier than I have ever been in my life. Maybe not to a 25 year old, but I don’t have any interest in a young guy, so who cares about that??
I do have more wisdom, kindness, patience, compassion, self-confidence, humor about myself, and love of others than I ever did in my life. And I think many older women are still physically sexy also: Halle Berry, Sheryl Crow, Iman, Jane Fonda is gorgeous still!!! Who else? Kyra Sedgewick, Michelle Pfeiffer, Sandra Bullock and I could go on.
I don’t like Hawn’s old fashioned ageism.
I didn’t read that as Goldie saying she felt that way, not about herself or other women. I understood that to be a comment on how “those who decide” in hW view women over a certain age. Or maybe what appeals to whichever age group spends the most money on movies, although that may be a circular argument that feeds itself.
If you haven’t seen it, try and find ‘Foul Play’, with Goldie and Chevy Chase. I think it was the precursor to ‘Seems like Old Times’ and Dudley Moore has a cameo scene with Goldie that will make you laugh until you cry. I forgive her for making ‘Bird on a Wire’ with Mel Gibson. Gurl had to feed her family. ‘Private Benjamin’ still holds up today against the mindless pap coming out of Hollywood today.
LOVE HER – Private Benjamin is a classic masterpiece
Private Benjamin and Overboard are my favourites!
I loved her in “Wildcats” too. One of my cousins was an extra in that film.
I too am a Goldie lover! But I hate that they appear to have photoshopped the hell out of those pictures. I understand a little cleaning up, but she actually LOOKS 45 in those photos. Why can’t we just look our age?!
Goldie Hawn: You think you’re going to prove to Hollywood you’re still sexy at 45? No
Gwyneth Paltrow: But, but.. my vagina!
😂😂😂😂
Goldie is a national treasure.
Can we talk about this concept that a woman’s viability is tied to her being “sexy”? This sexy image thing has just taken over since Madonna put it up front and in your face in the late 80s. It’s now out of control. There are so many other valuable attributes, qualities and traits that a woman can exhibit, and that make her attractive, which have nothing to do with sex. Think: Funny. Sweet. Kind. Tough. Courageous. Strong. Humble. Thoughtful. Loyal. And even…Modest. Is there no place for modesty any more? Sexiness is just so…obvious. So easy…until it’s not, because you age out of it. Yuck.
I feel like all the women in the comments are 45 or older…she’s right. Biological vitality and SMV are real things for all of us – men and women, whether it offends you or not. It’s beyond our control it’s in nature and we’re just small humans.
Omg Corey you’re totally right about the Schumer/Blair Roller Boogie resemblance! Never unseeing it. So cute!
Those are some great photos.
Yeah sorry, I like Goldie but a lot of this was tone deaf.
It’s huge privilege to state that liberation comes from inside. That might be true if only you don’t ever have to deal with other people. Or they are so in awe because you are wealthy and famous maybe? And that doesn’t negate you performing negative stereotypes for money. That isn’t feminist.
And Terry Richardson? No. Just no. Don’t work with a rapist.
When I was trying to break into acting in LA waaaay back in the late 80’s/early 90’s, I had three different casting directors say, “You have a great Goldie Hawn quality about you.” I always floated away from those auditions with a smile on my face. I love her.
Poor woman. Yes, a woman can be sexy at 45, but what is more important – is “sexy” the only thing a woman should aspire to? According to Goldie, there is nothing beyond the definition of a woman than comes from Hollywood. She sounds very “liberated”, as in liberated from any knowledge or thinking about women’s position in the world. Lucky her.
I sincerely do not understand why celebrities do not stop working with Terry Richardson. Any suggestion?
they still care more about a product than people.
or money more than girls.
Thanks for the answer. I fear to think you’re right.
I mean, the shadows on Richardson’s reputation are thick at this point, no one could possibly not know about them. And still…various celebrities who wave the flag of feminism etc do pose for such a guy. I mean, there are no certain proofs, as far as I know, so you cannot label him “guilty”. But there are plenty of talented, cool photographers in the biz, why choose the creepy fake-plastic-transgression king?
Love Goldie. She’s timeless and I’ll love her always.
But f*ck Terry and Amy Schumer. I hate them both.
Loved her since I was little. Dumb blonde?! Not by a mile. She is awesome.