EXPERIENCE ON LOCATION AT THE SET
It was sort of amusing. It would be watching Chris Meloni be the funniest guy and here he is this serious actor. I had no idea he had comedy chops so we did a lot of laughing around him, right, and then there were other things like the one thing we were in the jungle and it was so beautiful, we had to be careful because the water had some kind of a bacteria so they say well, be careful of the water because it has a bacteria and I’m thinking well, I’m not going in the water. Nobody throw me in the water. I kept thinking this is a bacteria, what is that so anyway I didn’t want to get any flesh eating disease and I won’t say that was funny. Then I actually tore my hamstring. I didn’t tear it but I pulled it when I started running after the truck was the first time we were running after the truck. Amy just went wham, and I had to catch up with her. Of course, mom doesn’t have to run as fast as she does but I just went and I just, you know, I went for it and I pulled I went oh, no, I’ve done this. I practically limped through the movie because I actually had an injury. It worked because she said oh, my knees. She was like had all these problems like so anyway, yeah.
HOW WAS IT TO COME BACK TO ACTING?
It’s great to be acting again. Now keep in mind that performing has always been what I’ve done all my life so when I was working with children and creating and producing this program for them, it was another approach to what I’ve done all my adult life, was creating product, so I never felt like I wasn’t doing something.
And then I speak all over the world so when I get up and I speak in front of people it’s a form of sharing and acting and making funny and right so it’s not as if I just left the world, but I did basically got focused very much on my children’s charity Mind Up, which is our program and we’re now in nine different countries so I’m very excited about where I’ve been and what I’ve done. I never retired but I did redirect my focus to what I thought was important.
WHAT GIVES YOU ANXIETY? AMY SCHUMER SAID YOU’RE AN ANGEL?
It’s a wonderful way of – another way of saying love I look at that. When you love someone and you care about someone sometimes you want to refer to them as an angel. I’m not an angel, but I do try to be as good a person as I can be. It’s important to me and important to my family and by leading by example, if you will.
Movies or acting or the art of it all, that doesn’t give me anxiety but what can be disturbing is that we reach a time in our lives and we lose people and I think that losing your friends and losing people around you I wouldn’t call it anxiety though, I call it sadness. That’s s a difficult time but no reason to be anxious.
MOVIE STAR THESE DAYS COMPARED TO THE PAST?
The perception of movie stars then they were something incredibly romantic about a movie star because they weren’t exposed that way; they weren’t accessible necessarily. They were more like looking from afar because there was that distance between you and them. Television was quite different. Now television stars everybody felt that you were – I could feel the difference, you know. They felt you were in your living-room, you know. I know you, you know, or “Laugh In.” I know who you are. You’re like, you know, my friend next door and there was a way of approaching for television as opposed to acting and movies but today the lines are completely crossed and because of social media everybody knows everybody. There is a level of interest and I would say in many ways prurient interest in what everybody’s doing and no-one seems to have any boundaries so I remember the days when we would say I can – I think I’m going to stay out of the limelight. I think I’m overexposed, right. You can’t do that anymore. You can’t choose when you’re in and when you’re out of any form of publicity or so I think in some ways stars have become great and other stars – the idea of a star and the other one has become sort of well, cool but it doesn’t have the same thing. I always like to see who comes up in the industry that’s going to have staying power, you know, because there’s so much content today that, you know, basically, you know, they can – you can be worn out after a time. It’s an interesting question.
IDEALLY HOW LONG WOULD YOU LIKE TO LIVE?
GH: I’d like to live a long time as long as I’m healthy. We don’t like to live unhealthy lives and have to withstand whatever that pain or agony might be getting through that. That doesn’t look like a fun ending so but in terms of the quality of life I think there’s very interesting things going on in terms of, you know, longevity and what’s happening in terms of stem cell and what’s happening in terms of all kinds of other ways. Glutathione is actually it’s a particle and a molecule and what it does is it feeds the cell, okay, so (inaudible) is one of the things that feeds itself and I always looked at the cell as maintaining a healthy cell. How do you do that? Well, best thing to do is to feed it exactly what it wants to eat because (inaudible) is what actually feeds the cell and it likes to eat glutathione. That’s a big part of the sort of wonderful balanced dinner that this cell wants that keeps it healthy and glutathione has some other issues so I asked about that at this longevity basically they were raising money to tell you the truth is what they were doing there and I was interested to hear what they had to say and what the scientists were saying about that so I find – I could have been a doctor. I am fascinated with research, just fascinated, and it’s why I research my program right away. I had real scientific research on Mind Up before it went out so research is very important.
SHOWBIZ FAMILY
Kurt Russell was the baseball player, Wyatt was the hockey player, and that’s what he wanted to be and that’s why we moved to Vancouver, you know. We went up there and that was it, you know, bought a house and made a house for him and that was our last child and he needed to do what he needed to do to succeed. That was our motto with all the children so acting for him even though he was kind of a natural when he was little not what he wanted to do. Oliver really didn’t grow up wanting to be an actor either and he wanted to do other things. He played hockey as well and Oliver, you know, went to college and so forth and then he started working on movies and then got the idea that maybe he’d like to try acting. Katie came out of my womb acting. She was like da da so, you know, it’s kind of like and our son Boston is a brilliant, brilliant young man and, you know, he’s now starting to be a psychologist and so forth. However, he’s actually also a really great actor but he’s not going into it, right. Why does this happen? It’s kind of a miracle and on the other side of it, it’s a gift and I’ll tell you why. They’re all successful. It’s not like they went out and failed. That was the worst so the idea was know your limitations early, see if you’re going to get there and start thinking of a back up system because I was going to open a dancing school. Everybody has to have a back up plan, right, but my kids just went out and did it, you know, and I’m really, really – it’s like Kurt and I look at each other and go wow, this is amazing. We look at our children. The worst thing two stars could have are children that feel like failures. The worst and that was our thing. Our kids were always going to do what they wanted to do and we were going to support them whether it was . Kurt used to say, Ollie, he learned to tie a great fly for fly fishing. You know, that’s be the best tie flyer in the world. That’s how we were and here are our children so thank you for allowing me to share that.
WYATT AN ACTOR?
Actually, yes. I watched him as a young boy playing the Artful Dodger in school and he was funny and very committed so I wasn’t surprised and the other comedian, a natural comedian, is Oliver because Oliver was in a show when he was 9 and it was “Alice In Wonderland” and he played Tweedledee, you know, the Tweedledee and the Tweedledum and his umbrella broke and he was so funny with no words that’s the sign of a true comedian. Put him in – put him somewhere, give no words and ask him to make you laugh. That’s when I knew I went omigod like my – my son is the real comedian and he is so and he’s also a heavy too. Interesting. Oliver. Anyway, okay, let’s not talk about the kids, thanks.
ADVISE TO YOUNG MOTHER HOW TO RAISE HER CHILDREN?
Raising children ain’t easy and I think I wrote a book about it. It’s called “10 Mindful Minutes,” right, and that book was really there to say well, we want to know how to parent but the bigger issue is how do you take care of yourself because to have a mindful child if you aren’t a mindful person and you haven’t practiced a sense of self-control and lack of reactivity, ability to listen, acts of kindness, empathy, empathy for your child, if you don’t know what that is I don’t know that you’re going to be able to have a mindful child particularly so that’s I guess I would say learn about who you are I would say first because everything that child will be in the beginning will be because of you. That’s how important we are as parents so we got to clean up our act first.
HOW DID YOU GUIDE HER AS A MOTHER, AND WHAT DO YOU LEARN FROM HER.
We all have different styles of parenting definitely. What I learn and as a mother you realize that you do not infiltrate in that. That is who they are. That’s how they decide to parent and the only thing you can say is if you see something going awry or wrong, you have to be skillful on how you say what you believe might be a better way. That’s not always easy and then, you know, I don’t know whether I learned anything from Kate and I think mainly I see differences in us that she – I am a – she’s a fantastic parent, so is Oliver and they’re amazing parents and Kate can be strict and I can be – and I’m less strict I’d say. She can be, you know, and, you know, I just want everybody to have a good time so but she’s got a great handle on parenting and is doing an amazing job with her children. It’s amazing and my son so I have 5 grandchildren now. Oliver and Erin gave me 3 and Katy’s given me 2 and they’re very close, by the way. Very close cousins so it’s so cool having everybody together, you know, and Oliver parents differently so Oliver parents, you know, differently than Kate and I parent differently than all of them. But love is at the core of it and dedication and tenacity, to not tire out because otherwise, you know, you turn your back for a minute something happens.
WHAT DOES FAME AND SUCCESS MEAN TO YOU?
It means responsibility. It puts a responsibility I feel to be worthy and to have a continued integrity about what I do and my behavior and my obligations. It’s not that I want to live up to an image, it’s that I want to be my authentic self. Being something doesn’t mean anything, but living something does.
THIRTY FOUR YEARS WITH KURT RUSSELL–SECRET TO YOUR LONG LASTING RELATIONSHIP?
GH: I like the idea of being his girlfriend and vice versa. I think that part of it is that you don’t fish wife or demand things. I think there’s an independence that we have to accept that, you know, we walk with, you know, 2 pillars hold up the house. I am not – I think people lose themselves oftentimes where they become one and, you know, friction is important, arguments are important. You don’t want somebody just like you and then you have to learn how to, you know, work your way through an argument and be skillful about it, you know, resolve it and I think one of the things that we have to carry with us oftentimes is resentment because things happen during a marriage or a union and you have to know what you want and we could have resentment for a lot of things; things that are said that shouldn’t have been said or things that are done that shouldn’t have been done or, you know, neglect that you felt neglected and you shouldn’t have felt neglected so but I think one thing you have to remember is do I want to be here and both people need to want to be there. It’s not just one so if two people really want to be there then there’s something to really cherish so you keep it fresh by surprising each other, by making sure you go out, by laughing a lot, by getting away from with the kids. You have to go away. Go to a hotel room, go do something fun, go take a hike. Make something happen that’s unusual. That to me will be the way of infusing new, igniting new flame, put on a new outfit when you go to bed.
WHAT MAKES YOU HAPPY?
Little things, big things. Happiness is here. It’s actually deeper than that. Probably joy but and happiness is like this so the things that make you happy. This morning I woke up. I went outside on the balcony and I looked at this day and I looked at my rose bushes and I felt so good. How beautiful and in the front yard I’m getting my first magnolia in my magnolia tree. It’s like magic, right. There are so many things from that to my children to my book I’m reading to quiet meditations, to music, to other peoples’ joy and you watch someone celebrate with joy that makes you happy too. There are many things that make me happy.
FIRST MOMENT YOU EYED ON KURT?
I was interviewing him for a movie that I was producing, and I thought he was really fun. I liked him. He didn’t have any airs about him. He’s awfully good looking but he just never had that air of like being cool. He was just a regular guy and he’d been up all night with his dad and they were whatever and he was tired and we knew two of the same people who were, you know, actually people that work in the industry. One was his brother-in-law who’s one of my favorite AD’s that worked with me on “Foul Play” and we were just easy and he did say to me, I got up or whatever and I went over to do something and he went I didn’t realize you had such a nice figure. I went Oh, that. Well, thanks, you know, and that might have been a moment but it wasn’t like omigod I’m in love at first sight, you know. I liked who he was. Yeah, I do like who he is.
MATURE ACTRESSES: SHIRLEY MACLAINE
The baby boomers are aging so there has to be content for everybody so it very well could be that, you know, very well could be that and, you know, bringing people of a certain age now if people aren’t as old as they were years ago at our age you kind of feel like, you know, we’re not decrepit yet so there’s a lot of sense of energy and fun yet to be had but it is interesting.
STAYING IN AMAZING SHAPE?
I always was a dancer, I’ve always worked my body out but I am not a crazy work out person, right. I don’t eat a lot of crappy food, right, except sometimes I have a hot fudge sundae on American Airlines (laughter) but I’m always moving so this morning I got up, you know, pooped because we’ve been doing this for 3 days and you know what that’s like and I got up on my trampoline because I went to jump, you know. I have to jump, you know, keeps me this way, keeps my butt in, keeps everything going, you know, and then I lift a little bit of weight and then I’m out because I don’t have enough time so but I do what I can and that’s sort of the way it is, and I work much harder out, also hiking and the thing and whatever but when you’re busy I don’t like go omigod, I got to wake up at 5:00 and work out. No, I think I need my sleep more.
LAST TIME ON THE BIG SCREEN WAS IN 2002? TIME MEMORIES?
I did amazing things. I traveled to amazing places. I went through India. I saw some of my children that I’ve adopted but more importantly I created a program that is in 9 countries now. Our children are overstressed, they’re overtaxed, they’re a lot of them are on psychotropic drugs and this isn’t just in the US. I mean, we have some issues with our youth and if we’re going to build a better world we’d better start looking at how our children are being educated and how they’re being taught and basically given practices in order to manage their emotions which are out of control and not able to self regulate so I’ve given them 3 times a day in this program a brain break. They sit in the class and they get quiet and we have learn about your brain. When you ask a child to use their brain and they don’t know how it works, they don’t know the tool that they have so we’re teaching children how the brain works and so on so it’s been incredibly exciting so for me I just want to say I took a very important life turn because I believe that’s what life’s about. It’s like what else are you going to do, right, and this is what happened and when 9/11 happened and we knew the world was going to be all upside down is when I thought about this so I wasn’t thinking about movies, I was thinking about our world and children and our future so these 13 years have been and will continue most exciting time of my life truly and that is speaking and going with Davos and meeting and we’re now in the Middle East. Mind Up is now in Jordan so it’s an exciting time for me, right, and I changed it up, guys, right, and I never retired. I just basically was just moving this way on a project I believed in and then this came along and Amy went.
BIGGER LIFE PHILOSOPHIES?
I put sort of rules on me or something? No, I don’t. I mean, I just think every day is different. I think every approach to something is different and the reason is because nothing’s ever the same so when you think you’re going to be able to control something to be exactly the way you want it to be, it’s not. Okay, it would be great to eat not after 7 O’clock, right. Sometimes that doesn’t happen. Sometimes you’re somewhere and thing and there’s somebody you want to meet and you want to be together and you’re eating at 8:00 or 8:30. That’s not the end of the world so, you know, incarcerating ourselves by some of these sort of notions of do’s and don’ts and rights and wrongs take kind of the loftiness and joy out of life so, yeah, that’s my answer.
AGING ACTRESSES
Well, I am not quite aware of how harsh it was for women back then with them to compare anything to but I wouldn’t call it harsh at all. I mean, I felt blessed really and, you know, I never expected more than what I believed one could attain and I was I say might have cracked a few ceilings myself but I didn’t go out wanting to crack a ceiling. I just didn’t believe that anybody should be held down when they’ve got a good idea or, you know, the talent to be able to bring something to fruition and I think just a belief in myself and the belief in ideas and the belief in a good product and a way to get there is all one has to think about so, you know, we’re talking about sexism, you know, you talk about women who are movie stars and, you know, and the women who are what actresses and I remember when they’d say, you know, pretty women weren’t funny. Carole Lombard was hilarious so these are ideas. It’s like, you know, it takes 2 years to pack, right. They’re just ideas, they’re preconceived ideas so I think it’s pretty much grown a bit but look what we’re dealing with now with Fox and these men that are, you know, I mean it’s not excuse me is this really 2017 and we’re still doing this? You know, I mean, I got a few men exposed in the ’60s themselves in an elevator (laughter) but it’s just getting crazy. It’s like when are we going to grow up? Still dealing with it so…
You’re right and a lot of women just kind of took it. In fact, most did, you know, and you do that thing which is like ugh ugh and then you’d walk on but it was – it’s so humiliating, you know, but we had a different level of resilience I guess about the guy opening up his trench coat. Wow good morning.
KURT NOW KNOWS THAT THE TWO OF YOU HAD SEX ON YOUR FIRST DATE.
You spilled the bean. It was so much fun. We had a good time. It was a very beautiful night actually and that was my house and those were the guards that were actually looking as we broke into my house. I wanted him to see it because I was re-doing it and then we sat on the stairs and said what will we do now if we really lived here and he said we’d probably go down and get cookies and milk and I said what kind of cookies. Oreos? And he went maybe chocolate chip and that was the beginning.
PRETTY WOMEN AREN’T FUNNY–ON “LAUGH IN” YOU WERE ONE OF THE VERY FEW WOMEN.
Honestly, I think that’s in the eyes of the beholder and I mean that in that I remember people saying to me pretty women weren’t funny and I remember going to agents when I was a dancer and them saying you’re too pretty to be funny. It didn’t make any sense to me because I think what’s interesting is are funny women sexual to men. Do they present a sexuality? Because men actually have a lot of issues around that which is, you know, how desirable is that person because of, you know, that doesn’t necessarily turn you on maybe laughing. What is the essence of that character and so maybe that’s what they’re looking at and I don’t think I ever heard that from a woman.
Amy is a totally unique character which is what makes stars so she’s carved out her own niche, right, but then there were other great comediennes as well like that that really set the bar for that time period so I don’t think we can put everything in a neat, you know what I mean, yeah.
DISASTROUS TRIPS
I like to travel first class. I really honestly don’t think I’ve had a disastrous trip. I’ve had great trips. I’ve had, you know, challenging moments in trips. I would never call them a disaster. One trip I took with a boyfriend and we went to India from France and I landed in India and I didn’t have a visa and they put me in a room at 3:00 in the morning with like men in brown suits and whatever and I had to sit there because I said well, you know, I don’t have a visa and I was so mad at my boyfriend. I was like don’t you know I’m supposed to have a visa. Just because you’re French and you don’t need a visa, and as it turned out he got the head of India Times or India Today and got her out of bed to come and talk to the guys there but you see it wasn’t disastrous because I still know who this woman is after all these years and I saw India when India was really India and I flew from there after I got released to Jaipur, outside of Jaipur where I went to the camel festival and it was one of the great experiences I can remember in my life so you see everything that thinks is not going to work out somehow is a gift in there somewhere, right.
