Goldie Hawn, 80, Reveals the One Thing That Makes Her Happiest These Days

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Goldie Hawn.

Beloved Academy Award-winning actress and singer Goldie Hawn has revealed the one thing that makes her happiest these days — and it has absolutely nothing to do with the glitz and glamour of Hollywood.

Hawn, 80, hasn’t acted since 2020, when she appeared opposite her husband, Kurt Russell, in the festive comedy sequel film “The Christmas Chronicles 2.” As of 2026, she spends more time on personal endeavors and doing things with her family.

The iconic star, who won her Best Supporting Actress Oscar for her wonderful performance in the 1969 screwball comedy “Cactus Flower,” spoke to Parade to explain what it is that makes her happiest nowadays.

Making Children Happy Makes Goldie Hawn Happy

In her chat with Parade, Goldie Hawn told the popular outlet that she is truly happy today because she is doing things that help children and bringing purpose to her life.

Hawn started the MindUp foundation back in 2003. The program promotes mental health and well-being for students in PreK through 8th grade. At the time, she stated that if she could change ten children’s lives, then she’d have done a good job. Now, having helped to train thousands of teachers and helped millions of kids, she isn’t stopping there.

She told Parade, “I’m not motivated by any level of self-interest. I just care. I deeply care about humanity.”

The star continued, “I’d rather change the world, but I don’t think that’s realistic. But I think what’s realistic is step by step, and that’s what I’ve done.”

Speaking about her current happiness and what makes her happiest, Hawn added, “I’m really happy. When I say I’m happy, I’m happy because we’re doing things that are helping children. Anything that you could do that you feel that you’ve brought purpose in your life, or you feel that you’ve got things that you need to do and things you need to learn, and all this world around AI and where we are now, I’m not afraid of it. I’m just looking at how to sustain humanity, how we work inside of it, so I’m inspired.”

Hawn Is Now Also a Children’s Author

Goldie Hawn is now also a children’s author, having co-written (with Lin Oliver) the brilliant “The After-School Kindness Crew” series of books.

The stories in the books link to MindUp, as they encourage readers to take deep breaths and brain breaks, which Hawn calls “one of our secret sauces” to her foundation’s success.

Of that idea, Hawn told Parade, “But people said to me, ‘You’re never going to teach kids about their brain,’ and that was 24 years ago, and I just couldn’t understand why that was an argument. We don’t teach children about their brain, they’re not going to know what they learn with, and they’re not going to know how to actually manage all the negativity, all the uncertainty, all the dysregulation that our children are seeing today. So it gives them tools. Sure enough, it turns out that one of the best things children love about MindUp is they love their brain.”

She went on, saying, “If we don’t start helping our children get brain fitness, brain economy, brain, I would call capital, then we’re not preparing these children for the world they’re going to inherit. We need to be able to create more brain fitness in our world, and understand that it’s extremely important, not just for our economy, but it’s important for our health and our wellness and our ability to lead appropriately.”

Goldie Hawn’s Hopes for Her Grandchildren

Brain fitness is a notion the legendary Goldie Hawn also wants to pass on to her eight grandchildren —Ryder, Bing, Rani, Wilder, Bodhi, Rio, Buddy, and Boone — to whom her latest book, “Slam Dunk Day,” is dedicated.

Hawn also spoke of instilling a strong work ethic into said grandchildren, telling Parade, “Nothing gets done for you, and this is called rigor. These are the areas that I work with my kids on and can help them. But other than that, they’re doing great. So, so far so good.”

Clearly a proud grandmother, Hawn is often seen with her grandchildren in Instagram posts, whether it be her own, those of her daughter, Kate Hudson, or otherwise.

A Return to Acting?

Earlier this year, Hawn told Variety that she had not officially retired from acting, despite her current six-year hiatus from it.

Hawn said she had been offered roles during her current break, but any future roles would have to mean something to her.

“It’s about the content. It has to do with the content,” Hawn said.

She went on, saying, “Acting for acting’s sake, taking things… I’ve read a lot of shows, a lot of scripts that I didn’t like or I didn’t think I’d fit. The one thing about acting is that I’ve done it, and I had a great career, and I honor that.”

The star concluded, “I would love to get a material that could actually be like, ‘Oh my God, I want this so bad. This is so funny. She’s so crazy. She’s so interesting.’ But I haven’t come across it. If somebody came up with a really cool, funny script… I think it would be great.”

That Hawn is still open to future roles and might one day return to acting is exciting. We’d love to see her back on our screens. In the meantime, we congratulate her on her foundation work and her children’s novels. Moreover, we’re so glad to know that doing those things is making her so happy.

Goldie Hawn’s filmography info was courtesy of IMDb.