Goldie Hawn Reveals Why She Retired From Acting For 15 Years

Goldie Hawn in Overboard
(Image credit: (MGM))

There’s always been this double standard in Hollywood. As men reach their 50s and even going into their 70s (ala Arnold Schwarznegger and Sylvester Stallone), they are still given opportunities to star in big movies. But the same can’t often be said about their fellow actresses. Meryl Streep, Diane Keaton and Helen Mirren have certainly challenged this with their success in recent years, and more roles for women of all ages have opened up in the last few years. But Goldie Hawn felt the effects of this double standard for 15 years.

The actress known for her roles in Overboard, Death Becomes Her and The First Wives Club didn’t star in a single movie after reaching her mid-50s simply due to the opportunities just not coming her way anymore. Now 74, Goldie Hawn has more exciting projects coming her way, but now she is opening up about her 15-year dry period. In her words:

I wasn’t going to wait for a phone to ring. And I certainly wasn’t going to continue to produce, because I produced for like 25 years and I didn’t want to do that anymore. I’d done it, I did it, it was done. Great, but now it’s time to move on.

Goldie Hawn started her career at an all-time high. Her first starring role in 1969’s Cactus Flower, which earned her an Oscar for Best Actress. and she just kept working for years to come. Hawn was a prominent actress throughout the ‘70s, ‘80s and ‘90s, but the phone just stopped ringing after she made The Banger Sisters in 2002.

Per her words to The Guardian, it sounds like the actress felt like her career had reached its expiration date and felt it was time to move on. But thanks to Amy Schumer, she got back into the swing of things in 2017 with Snatched. The buddy comedy is about a mother and daughter who get kidnapped while on a vacation in South America.

According to Amy Schumer, the Snatched producers were not initially on board with Goldie Hawn starring with the comedian in the movie, but she fought for her to be cast. Goldie Hawn also played Mrs. Claus to her real-life partner of 37 years, Kurt Russell’s Santa, in Netflix’s 2018 hit The Christmas Chronicles, which has a sequel on the way this holiday season.

Goldie Hawn will also reunite with her co-stars from The First Wives Club for an upcoming movie called Family Jewels. In the comedy, Hawn, Bette Midler and Diane Keaton will play the former wives of a recently deceased man who are forced to spend Christmas together with their family.

It’s great to see Goldie Hawn make a comeback to comedy, and her daughter, Kate Hudson, has followed in her footsteps with movies such as How To Lose A Guy In 10 Days and Almost Famous. Stay tuned here on CinemaBlend for more news on their upcoming projects.

Sarah El-Mahmoud
Staff Writer

Sarah El-Mahmoud has been with CinemaBlend since 2018 after graduating from Cal State Fullerton with a degree in Journalism. In college, she was the Managing Editor of the award-winning college paper, The Daily Titan, where she specialized in writing/editing long-form features, profiles and arts & entertainment coverage, including her first run-in with movie reporting, with a phone interview with Guillermo del Toro for Best Picture winner, The Shape of Water. Now she's into covering YA television and movies, and plenty of horror. Word webslinger. All her writing should be read in Sarah Connor’s Terminator 2 voice over.