Goldie & Kurt 50 years

They haven’t walked down the aisle, but they keep saying ‘I do’ to loving each other

They’re not just Hollywood’s happiest couple, they have a relationship most people long for – one that’s honest, loving and true.

And despite having never tied the knot, 35 years on Goldie Hawn and Kurt Russell still swoon over each other like lovesick teens.

They’ve undoubtedly stood the test of time – it’s been an incredible five decades since the rock-solid lovebirds first met.

Now, as they celebrate 35 years of coupledom, Woman’s Day can reveal the secrets to the duo’s relationship success.

ROMANCE IN THE AIR

After they first laid eyes on each other – on the set of The One And Only, Genuine, Original Family Band in 1968 – it was another 15 years before Goldie and Kurt became romantically involved.

Before then, Goldie married West Side Story actor and dancer Gus Trikonis in 1969 but they separated after four years.

When Kurt, 67, and Goldie, 72, eventually worked together again, the bubbly blonde had been divorced twice and had two children, son Oliver and daughter Kate, with her second husband, musician Bill Hudson.

It was February 1983, when they starred together in the comedy film Swing Shift that their professional relationship became personal.

“He was so good-looking. I had no pretence about him,” Goldie says of Kurt. “I could tell right away he wasn’t a womaniser.”

The actress fell for Kurt when she saw what a family man he was. “What got me was when I watched my kids when they’d come to the set and how he was with them,” she said. “He was amazing with them, such a natural.”

HAPPY FAMILIES

At the time, Oliver and Kate were six and three, and Kurt treated them like his very own, becoming a loving father figure in their lives.

Come their 10th anniversary, when the couple, who also share 32-year-old son Wyatt, asked their brood if they wanted them to get married they all unanimously said no.

“They loved it – everything was perfect the way it [was],” Goldie revealed of their decision not to marry.

Now, the Overboard stars even believe tying the knot could have ruined their romance! “I’d have been long divorced if I’d been married,” says Goldie.

“Marriage is an interesting, psychological thing. If you need to feel bound to someone, then it’s important to be married.

“If you have independence, if you have enough money and enough sense of independence and you like your independence, there’s something psychological about not being married because it gives you the freedom to make decisions one way or the other. So, for me, I chose to stay, Kurt chose to stay.”

While their unconventional relationship may have raised some eyebrows over the years, they’ve clearly proved naysayers wrong.

And one thing that’s helped the couple keep the spark alive is a healthy sex life.

“I think sex is very important in a relationship and a longterm relationship actually suffers because people aren’t playing together anymore,” Goldie has said.

And her words of advice? Couples should make their own rules when it comes to

‘I would have been long divorced if I’d been married’

monogamy, admitting that she doesn’t mind if Kurt looks at other women.

“We’re human beings. There is, I guess, elasticity to the relationship,” she says. “Otherwise it’s going to break, just like a rubber band.”

THE SECRET

Despite all her theories about their relationship, Goldie says finding her perfect match has been the secret to success.

“It’s about compatibility and communication. And you both need to want it to work. If one person doesn’t want it to work, it isn’t going to work. Intention is the key.

“It’s also about not losing yourself in each other,” she adds. “Being together, two pillars holding up the house and the roof, and being different, not having to agree on everything, learning how to deal with not agreeing.”