Goldie Hawn [1] is, and will forever be, a badass. The legendary actress recently sat down with Interview magazine for an in-depth chat [2] with none other than her daughter, Kate Hudson [3]. (Note: Before the two even get started, Kate's brother Oliver calls. After Kate says, "Yo, I'm interviewing mom right now," Goldie says to tell him she needs her car back. When he says he still needs it, Goldie tells Kate to hang up on him.) The incredibly close mother-daughter duo [4] then chat about everything from why Goldie took a 15-year break from Hollywood (she costars in this year's Snatched [5] with Amy Schumer) to how she handled her haters over the years. See her best quotes below.
- On what first brought her to California: "I was almost 20, and I was going to dance in a show in a theater across from Disneyland. I had never flown over the entire United States before. I had 250 dollars saved, but my mom bought my ticket because I'd taken 200 of those dollars and bought a dog. [Hudson laughs] My priorities might have been mixed up, but this little puppy poodle came with me on the plane, and I'll never forget flying across the desert. I wrote — granted this was after one or two Bloody Marys — but I wrote in my diary, 'If anyone could doubt the existence of God, then they have to look again.' It was a profound spiritual experience, going to where I could see space and nothing else. As far as I could see was as far as my spirit went. And I had no idea where my life was going. I believed this was a short gig and that I would come home and marry a Jewish dentist and have a beautiful little house with a picket fence and raise children and have a dancing school."
- On standing up for herself in Hollywood: "Liberation is an interesting word, because you can be liberated from external things, and also from your internal dialogue. During the era when women were burning their bras — which, by the way, they never actually did — but when women were first becoming liberated, I was 23. And I met a woman who asked, 'Don't you feel bad because you're sort of acting like the stupid airhead blond?' And I totally surprised myself. I said, 'Liberation can also come from the inside.' My sense of liberation and the freedom to speak the way I want to and to feel solid in my shoes was getting stronger and stronger. That's what helps me move through other people's perceptions of how I should or should not be liberated. I would never listen to those rules. Don't tell me I can't do that. Watch me. Don't tell me I can't direct this movie. Watch me."
- On why she waited so long to make another movie: "Because I believe that life is about doing. It's about changing. It's about transitioning. I can't imagine, as a human being, not being able to grow. When I turned 50, I asked some of my girlfriends, all actresses of the same age, 'What are we going to do now?' I wanted to go live somewhere for a while, learn archaeology, or take part in healing the world on some level. I wanted to dig deep and say, 'Who am I now? What do I have to offer? What do I have to learn?' I started learning about the brain, psychology. And after 9/11, I decided, 'I know what I'm going to do.' I ended up writing two books and creating MindUP [a neuroscience, mindfulness, and positive psychology-based curriculum for children, grades pre-K through 12]. It's now in Jordan, Serbia, the UK, America, Canada, Hong Kong. I never looked back. I never wished to be acting again. I was so engaged."