Kurt Russell says the move that took him and Goldie Hawn from California to Colorado in 1986 was about family, not flight. In a new interview published May 31, the 75-year-old said he and Hawn made the switch because it was better for their blended family on a day-to-day basis, and because he wanted to build a life around ranching and the outdoors.
The timing matters because Russell is still being asked, decades later, why one of Hollywood's most recognizable couples chose a quieter life far from Los Angeles. He said he wanted to look at and be part of what Colorado had to offer, and that he was eventually drawn to ranching life. The move came after he and Hawn got together in 1983, and the ranch they built became home to a family that includes Wyatt Russell, 39, Oliver Hudson, 49, Kate Hudson, 46, and Boston Russell, 46.
Russell's explanation also cuts against the easy assumption that he was leaving town in disgust. He said plainly that he was not escaping Los Angeles, adding, “I don't dislike L.A.” and “I wasn't escaping. I was just living where I live. I was fortunate that it really didn't make any difference.”
He has said the change suited the children, too. “It's very different from living in a city. They grew up with a good dose of what nature can offer,” Russell said, describing a childhood shaped less by industry and more by open land. The point was practical as much as personal: he said the move was better for the family in everyday life, not a symbolic rejection of Hollywood.
That choice was unusual at the time. Russell said that when he made it, nobody else was doing that, and people told him it was goodbye to Hollywood. He did not buy that argument then, and the years since have backed him up. The couple, partners for 42 years, built a ranch in Colorado and stayed with that life while other stars later followed the same route. What remains unanswered is not why they left, but how deeply that ranch routine shaped the family rhythm they kept for decades.
