Goldie Hawn

The actress will be speaking at the Verizon Wireless Theater, in Houston, on November 11.

When did you meet Kurt Russell?

1983.

Why didn’t you two get married?

We had no need to get married. We just loved each other. It’s a ceremony we’ve both done, and it didn’t work the first time. It works better without being married. To each his own. We’re very happy, going on 21 years.

What’s it like to be a grandmother?

Awesome. It’s great. I miss my boy, though, because he’s living in New York. I find myself going there more often. We all stay in touch with each other.

What do you make of the whole woman-of-a-certain-age-in- Hollywood question? Because you seem to have had a lot of successes. Do you think that some women are just making the wrong decisions?

You know, honey, it’s about the way people perceive you. Hollywood is a very young culture. If a woman is a comedian, her career can go longer; if she’s a siren, she usually runs out. Men transition much differently. So you put everything together without prejudice or judgment, and you can see sometimes why women’s roles get scarcer, and that’s just the way it is. There’s not much to do about it except be real.

Have you been doing a lot of these speaking engagements?

I have, and it has been wonderful. I’m doing it for my Bright Light Foundation, which creates programs that introduce the study of mindfulness to our children. For example, when children breathe and quiet their minds for ten minutes in the morning and ten minutes in the evening, they excel in sports, they have better grades, they feel more connected to others, and they have less stress. We’re also creating a traveling museum of laughter, which will be technologically advanced; you can measure what happens to your body when you laugh. I’m being sponsored by Silk Soymilk, which is headed by a man whose philosophy comes out of the sixties, demonstrating that a company can make a profit and make a difference. It shows you that capitalists do not have to be naughty. KATY VINE