'WALK TOGETHER'
Stars for Kurt & Goldie
Love and marriage — you can have one without the other.
“Goldie, to you, I owe my wonderful life,” actor Kurt Russell told longtime sweetheart Goldie Hawn in a heartfelt speech as the two famously unhitched A-listers accepted side-by-side stars on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.
“Simply put, Goldie, I cherish you,” he said as Hawn’s daughter, Kate Hudson — whom he helped raise — watched with a wide smile. “All of the stars in the sky or on the boulevard don’t hold a candle to that.”
Hawn and Russell have never tied the knot, but their 33-year love story is arguably Hollywood’s longest and classiest — and it shows that weddings can be optional when it comes to romantic success.
The twice-divorced Hawn has attributed her and Russell’s longevity to trust, explaining, “If you need to be bound to someone, then it’s important to be married. If you are independent, then it’s important not to be married.”
In accepting his Walk of Fame star, Russell joked Thursday that it “will be subjected to the constant harshness of the blazing California sun,” not to mention the attentions of “stray dogs of both the canine and human variety — perhaps in need of a little relief.”
His star may also be “trod upon by the soles of shoes caked with earth from all corners of the world,” he added.
Still, “There’s no one else I’d rather be next to for all of that than Goldie Hawn.”
The two shared a sweet kiss at the dedication, where they were joined by Reese Witherspoon and Quentin Tarantino.
“Can we just get married?” Hawn quipped when it was her turn at the podium. “We’ve never had a celebration like this before.
“But I’m not going to pop the question,” she joked.
Hudson, too, noted the nuptial feel to the big family gathering.
“I always thought I’d be talking about them at a wedding or something,” Hudson said.
“But since a wedding doesn’t seem to be in our near future, this seems to be my only opportunity,” she quipped.
While their enduring love may be written in the stars, the timing of Thursday’s touching ceremony was likely written in the stars’ publicity plans.
Both Hawn, 71, and Russell, 66, have movies coming out.
Hawn and Amy Schumer’s “Snatched” opens Friday.
And Russell’s “Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2” opened this week.