Goldie Hawn Says She and Kurt Russell Never Married to Preserve Their ‘Independent Thinking’

“I like the idea that I can wake up in the morning and make decisions every day if I want to be here," Goldie Hawn told CNN's Chris Wallace

Goldie Hawn and Kurt Russell value their independence.

The Private Benjamin actress, 77, got candid in a recent interview with CNN’s Chris Wallace about why she and longtime partner Russell — who have spent nearly 40 years together — haven't tied the knot.

“Why aren't the two of you married?” Wallace asked Hawn on his show, Who's Talking to Chris Wallace?, to which she replied, “Why should we be? Isn't that a better question?”

When Wallace posed the question again, Hawn — whose two marriages ended in divorce — said it's partly because she and Russell, 72, have both seen what happens when a marriage ends.

"When it doesn't work out, it ends up to be big business,” the actress said. 

Related: Goldie Hawn and Kurt Russell's Relationship Timeline

“It’s always ugly,” she continued. “Somebody actually has to take a look and say, ‘How many divorces actually are fun? How many divorces actually don’t cost money? How many divorces actually make you hate the person more than you did before? How many divorces have hurt children?’ ”

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“But [you and Russell have] been together 40 years, you're not going to get divorced,” Wallace rebutted about her relationship with the Guardians of the Galaxy actor, which started in 1983. Their son Wyatt Russell, 37, was born just three years later.

“How did you know that then?” Hawn questioned in response, adding that she liked having the choice of being in a relationship. “I like the idea that I can wake up in the morning and make decisions every day if I want to be here.”

Related: Goldie Hawn and Kurt Russell Play with Puppets Over Dinner: 'Working on Our Communication Skills'

“I mean relationships are hard,” she continued. “They’re not always easy. There’s all kinds of hurdles we go through. There’s things that we believe in, things we don’t believe in, we agree on.”

“So I think ultimately staying independent with independent thinking is important, so you can hold on to yourself, and you can actually have that feeling," she concluded.

Hawn married director Gus Trikonis in 1969 before their marriage ended in divorce in 1976. She then had a six-year marriage with musician Bill Hudson, with whom she shares two children, Kate Hudson and Oliver Hudson.

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