|
E-mail this page to a friend!
Senior Citizen Goldie Hawn Speaks From the Heart In
Book About the People, Places and Events That Have Touched Her Life
 May
2, 2005 - Academy Award winner Goldie Hawn is one of the screen's most
beloved actresses and a senior citizen who turns 60 in November. Her
memorable performances in a wide variety of hit motion
pictures-including Cactus Flower, Butterflies Are Free, Shampoo, Foul
Play, Private Benjamin, Overboard, The First Wives Club and The Banger
Sisters -not to mention her unforgettable three-year run on Rowan &
Martin's Laugh-In, have endeared her to audiences around the world.
But despite all the attention that has come with
her years of Hollywood success, there is much about her life's journey
that Hawn has kept private. Now, in A LOTUS GROWS IN THE MUD (G. P.
Putnam's Sons; May 2, 2005; $25.95), written with journalist Wendy
Holden, she shares a very personal look at moments both private and
powerful and the ways these moments have helped carry her through life.
A LOTUS GROWS IN THE MUD is not a Hollywood
"tell-all," but rather a candid and insightful book. Goldie tells us
about wisdom she feels she has been given, and the lessons she has
learned on her life's journey, in the hope of giving something back.
"Each of us goes through transitions and transformations," writes Hawn.
"The important thing is that we acknowledge them and learn from them.
That is the idea behind this book. Not to tell my life story, but to
speak openly and from the heart about episodes in my life in the hope of
explaining how they changed my perception and how they helped me to look
at the world more clearly."
With the effervescent humor and generosity that is
familiar to everyone, Goldie invites us to join her in a look back at
the remarkable people and events that have touched her. She writes
about:
> Memories of her younger self -- the little girl
who felt like an ugly duckling -- and her growing up in suburbia with
dreams of becoming a ballerina. She describes what dance meant to her
and what it taught her about herself. She also thinks back on the
lessons learned from the spirited spontaneity of her father -- a dreamer
with his own unique take on life-and the confidence instilled by her
mother's courage.
> A horribly frightening experience at age eleven
when Goldie was sexually assaulted by one of her sister's male friends
during a party at home on Christmas Eve. She reflects on the reassuring
way her mother helped her deal with the situation and what that taught
her about how we attend to our children, and how we show our feelings
Goldie writes, "This episode and its aftermath were such an important
aspect of my growth in terms of sexual energy and understanding, and I
will forever be grateful for the way it was handled."
> Memories of her go-go dancing years in New York
of the 1960s including a shocking "casting couch" run-in with famed
cartoonist Al Capp, creator of the Li'l Abner comic strip; a dispiriting
gig at a fifth- rate New Jersey truck stop (booked by an agent who kept
urging Goldie to go topless); a near-fatal car crash and the out-of-body
experience that ensued; and an extraordinary night during the great
blackout of 1965 that restored her faith just as she was about to quit
New York and return home.
> An early taste of success after being cast on a
new CBS series Good Morning World. Even as network publicists were
hyping her as one of CBS's rising stars, and material rewards grew,
Goldie -- who had always imagined herself as just another face in the
chorus-struggled to maintain a happy faηade on the set while battling
debilitating anxiety attacks and deep depression.
> Her phenomenal success on the landmark comedy
series, Rowan & Martin's Laugh-In. She describes how her ditzy,
bubbleheaded-blonde character originated and how the show became a
vehicle for healing herself. She also writes about her marriage to first
husband, Gus Trikonis, who led her through her formative years in show
business, and how stardom and the baggage that came with it ultimately
destroyed that relationship.
> Memorable experiences working with some of
Hollywood's leading stars, including Walter Matthau (strange and
wonderful and interesting, but not the easiest person to work with);
Ingrid Berman (incredibly powerful -- a tower of female energy -- but
also extremely nervous about her return to movies after an eighteen-year
hiatus); and Peter Sellers (at any one time he could be manically
depressed, ecstatically overjoyed or just plain mad). Goldie also writes
about what it was like to win the Best Supporting Actress Oscar for her
feature film debut, Cactus Flower, an event she describes as both scary
and surreal.
> Behind-the-scenes of Swing Shift, a project
Goldie found and brought to the studio. She discusses her disappointment
on seeing the first cut of the film, which had little to do with her
original vision, and the deterioration of her relationship with director
Jonathan Demme when the studio called on her to help fix it. She writes
about the distress she felt at being left unprotected by the studio when
stories started circulating she had snatched away control of the movie.
She also writes about the reputation she subsequently acquired for being
"difficult to work with" as a result of that film, the lessons she
learned about fighting for what she believes in and maintaining her
integrity, and the problems women face in dealing with their own power,
whether in their relationships or in the workplace.
> Her relationship with longtime partner Kurt
Russell. Goldie describes falling in love with Russell on the set of the
film Swing Shift, including a particularly memorable impromptu
motorcycle ride around the studio's back lot during which she realized
she was looking at the man she hoped to have in her life for a very long
time. Avoiding what she admits is her usual "glib response" to the
oft-repeated question as to why she and Kurt have never married, Goldie
talks about the nature of relationships and what it takes to keep them
healthy. She also writes of her relationship with her children (actress
Kate Hudson, Oliver Hudson, Wyatt Russell and her stepson, Boston) and
what it has felt like as they have moved on to new phases of their own
lives leaving behind an increasingly empty nest for her and Kurt.
> Her extraordinary friendship with Private
Benjamin costar Eileen Brennan, who Goldie describes as her comedic soul
mate. She writes about the bond they forged on the film's set. She also
recalls the near-fatal hit-and-run accident that left Brennan severely
injured as the two of them were saying their good-byes after a
long-planned dinner together, and what she learned during that
horrifying incident about the connection they share.
> The difficult birth of her first baby, Oliver,
who was rushed to a neonatal intensive care unit as soon as he was
delivered. Goldie describes the events of that day that viscerally
proved to her a mother's power to heal her child. She writes, "I learned
that day that miracles can happen. That prayer is powerful. That faith
in something is extremely important. It was one of the first times in my
life that I realized that by focusing on something and willing it with
all my might, I could actually change or rearrange the course of
events."
> Details of numerous travel adventures including
an extraordinary trip to Russia to prepare for her role in The Girl from
Petrovka; a trip to Africa that reconnected Goldie with the simplicity
of life, a trip to Israel -- including a particularly emotional visit to
the Wailing Wall in Jerusalem -- in response to her agent's dying wish;
and several fascinating excursions to India. She also describes a visit
to South America for Operation Smile (a charitable organization that
helps children around the world who need reconstructive surgery) that
brought her to the heights of joy as well as the depths of despair. her
to the heights of joy as well as the depths of despair.
> A LOTUS GROWS IN THE MUD ends with Goldie's
account of a trip to a Buddhist monastery in Dharamsala, India, in the
foothills of the Himalayas, with her sons Oliver Hudson and Boston
Russell -- a practicing Buddhist and Buddhist scholar then in his final
year at the university. She reveals the lesson learned there that served
as the inspiration for the title of this memoir.
> She also offers her heartfelt reflections on
the joys and agonies of letting go of her daughter -- Kate Hudson -- and
watching her become her own person experiencing life on her own terms.
She talks about what she has gained in the beautiful experience of
becoming a grandparent, and the new directions, experiences and
opportunities that await her as she moves into this new phase or her
life. She writes, "Every day I ask myself, wondering aloud, 'What does
the future hold for you now, Goldie Hawn?' And the best thing of all is,
I just don't know."
Revealing her skills as a born storyteller, Goldie
talks about everything from anger and fear, to love and compassion,
friendship and fate, the importance of family, the challenges of show
business, the unexpected gifts of comfort from strangers many miles from
home, her own spiritual journey in search of enlightenment, and the joys
of being a mother, a daughter, a sister, a lover and a parent. A LOTUS
GROWS IN THE MUD is a story of the author's growing faith, of her
curiosity for that which is yet unknown, and of her unquenchable thirst
for knowledge and understanding. Above all, it is a trip back through a
life well lived by a woman well loved.
About the coauthor:
Wendy Holden has been a journalist with the London
Daily Telegraph, a coauthor of several autobiographies and is the author
of The Sense of Paper, a novel to be published in 2005. She lives in
England.
Click to More Senior News on the
Front Page
Copyright: SeniorJournal.com |
