Goldie Hawn never thought she'd be an actress.

Goldie Hawn

Goldie Hawn

The 'First Wives Club' star has enjoyed a glittering career in Hollywood but she admits she once saw herself owning a dancing school rather than acting on the big screen.

Speaking on Australia's The Project, she said: "I thought my life would look like a normal, what we call, a normal person.

"I got married, I had children, I had a white picket fence, I had my own dancing school and I lived happily ever after. That's what I thought when I was 17 and 18, and 19. And then things suddenly changed."

Meanwhile, the 70-year-old actress - who has Kate, 37, and Oliver, 40, with her ex-husband Bill Hudson and Wyatt Russell, 30, with her long term partner Kurt Russell - previously opened up about her successful family life and admitted the key to being happy is to "constantly work" on her relationship.

She shared: "We have our ups and downs like everybody else. You have to want to stay together, and we really want to. Therefore you work to be together.

"The ups and downs of life are there. It is not always happy. What we want to help children with is, just because you feel sad or happy or depressed doesn't mean that is who you are. We want them to know, 'I am really sad right now but I am not a sad person.' I always wanted to understand the causes of happiness. I'm a bit of a scientist I guess you could say."

And whilst Goldie and Kurt have been together for a long time, they have no plans to marry.

She said: "A lasting relationship isn't about marriage. It's about compatibility and communication. Intention is the key. It's also about not losing yourself in each other. Being together, two pillars holding up the house and the roof, and being different, not having to agree on everything, learning how to deal with not agreeing."