7 Little-Known Facts About Goldie Hawn

1. Goldie Hawn almost ditched acting to be a country singer.
In 1972, she recorded a country LP for Warner Brothers called Goldie, with the lead single titled "Pitta Patta." Although she had the help of country icons Dolly Parton and Buck Owens on the album, she ended up picking Hollywood over Nashville.

2.  "Goldie" is a family name. Yes, Goldie is her real name. The unusual moniker is a nod to her mother's aunt, which she discussed during her Inside the Actors Studio appearance in 2008.

3. Goldie Hawn opened her own ballet school. By 1964, she was running and teaching in her own ballet academy in her hometown of Washington DC.

 

4. Goldie Hawn's first husband was also a dancer. In 1969 Goldie married Gus Trikonis, who was one of the Sharks in West Side Story. They split in 1976.

5. The start of her relationship with Kurt Russell was pure luck. The two first met on the set of The One and Only, Genuine, Original Family Band in 1968 when she was 21 and he was just 16, so nothing romantic happened. Luckily their paths crossed again when they played love interests in 1984's Swing Shift, and it didn't take long for a relationship to spark.

6. She founded a charity dedicated to enriching childhood education. Goldie created The Hawn Foundation to help improve the academic lives of young kids after being "moved by statistics about the increases in school violence and bullying, youth depression, and suicide."

7. She practices meditation. Although she identifies as Jewish, she owes her sunny disposition to meditation. "It's not the idea of a particular religion that's important," she told Prevention. "It's the development of a spiritual life."