Goldie Hawn says she never married Kurt Russell because she wanted to avoid an 'ugly' divorce and keep 'independent thinking'

• Goldie Hawn spoke about her relationship with Kurt Russell during a CNN interview. 
• Hawn explained she never married Russell because she wanted to avoid filing for divorce. 
• Hawn and Russell have been together for 40 years. 

Goldie Hawn shared why she never tied the knot with her partner of 40 years, Kurt Russell. 

Hawn, 77, opened up during a conversation with CNN's Chris Wallace, who asked why she and Russell aren't married. 

"Why should we be? Isn't that a better question?" Hawn said. 

She continued by explaining that she and Russell have previously dealt with divorces. Hawn was married to director Gus Trikonis from 1969 to 1976, before marrying Bill Hudson — the father of Oliver and Kate Hudson — from 1976 to 1982. Russell, 72, got divorced from Season Hubley in 1983 after a four-year marriage.

"When it doesn't work out, it ends up to be big business," Hawn said. "It's always ugly. Somebody actually has to take a look and say, 'How many divorces actually are fun? How many divorces actually don't cost money? How many divorces actually make you hate the person more than you did before? How many divorces have hurt children?'" 

Hawn also said she values having independence in her relationship.

"I like the idea that I can wake up in the morning and make decisions every day if I want to be here," Hawn said. "I mean relationships are hard. They're not always easy. There's all kinds of hurdles we go through. There's things that we believe in, things we don't believe in, we agree on." 

She added: "So I think ultimately staying independent with independent thinking is important, so you can hold on to yourself, and you can actually have that feeling." 

In addition to Kate and Oliver, the couple welcomed their youngest son, Wyatt Russell, in July 1986. Russell also had a son with Hubley, Boston Russell, in February 1980. 

During a March 2019 appearance on "Divorce Sucks with Laura Wasser," Kate Hudson said she learned to co-parent from her mother. Hudson had a son with ex-husband Chris Robinson in 2004, a second son with her ex-fiancé Matt Bellamy in 2011, and a daughter with her current fiancé Danny Fujikawa in 2018, per People.

"I think the one thing that I learned from my mom is that no matter what you're feeling and no matter what — when I see my friends talking shit about their ex-spouses in front of their kids, I get so upset because they don't recognize how much that affects their child and how resentful their child will become of them," Hudson said. "No matter what, I never heard a bad word about my father."

She continued that "kids are not only incredibly intelligent, but eventually they can make their mind up themselves. They will see with their own eyes whatever needs to be seen, and they need to come to that on their own terms. It's not our place to tell them how to feel about the other parents. I think that's so important."