Kurt Russell reflects on friendship with late Princess Diana

Kurt Russell will soon be appearing in Paramount’s The Madison, and to promote the upcoming series, he made an appearance on ITV’s The Jonathan Ross Show.

However, the conversation also drifted onto the star’s friendship with the late Princess of Wales, who he first met when she was still married to the then Prince Charles.

Kurt first crossed paths with Diana at the premiere of his film Backdraft, which was released in 1991. Kurt sat between the then married couple for the film, where they bonded over their mutual difficulties with paparazzi photographers.

“I was sitting in between her and Charles,” the Hollywood star explained. “I understand her difficulties with paparazzi and all that kind of thing. I said, ‘If you ever want to go somewhere that’s pretty under control, we’ll work it out – let me know’.“

He continued: “She brought the two boys, and they stayed there for a week and had a wonderful time. I wasn’t there, none of us were there at the time but she wrote some really nice cards and things like that.”

Kurt then revealed that he regularly saw Diana’s youngest son, Prince Harry, with the actor adding: “I’ve seen Harry a number of times since then and he always remembers and he’s very sweet – he always remembers it as one of the really fun times they had.“

The 74-year-old then joked: “I think it’s a great thing – the future king of England [Prince William] was sleeping in my son’s room.”

Kurt previously told a similar anecdote back in 2016, saying at the time: “During the evening we talked about the paparazzi and the difficulty she had going different places and stuff so I said, well, if you ever get a chance you know come over to the ranch, we’ve got a good long driveway and it’s hard for the paparazzi to get in there so maybe you’d like to do that.”

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While the family weren’t there to receive Diana and the boys, they did stay with the family’s housekeeper, Bonnie, who became close with the late Princess of Wales. “Our housekeeper Bonnie became very close with her and every Christmas she’d get a nice card from Diana,” Kurt revealed.

Kurt’s Colorado ranch

Although Kurt and wife Goldie Hawn primarily live in California, the couple also own a gorgeous ranch in Colorado. Kurt built their family home in the late nineties, and the couple have another property nearby which was built by Goldie and is where their family often stay.

© Getty Images for St. Regis

At the premiere of The Madison, Kurt spoke about his love of rural living, saying: ” As you get older and you begin to sort of look at your life as a whole, I’m really glad that I made some of the choices I made. One of those was moving to Colorado. I was fortunate that Goldie loves Colorado. She really wanted to go there, and we get there as much as we possibly can. It’s a draw for me.

“I think urban life has great value, but when you’re in the country you have time for self-reflection. That’s something people of any age shouldn’t forget. There’s something about being close to the land that reminds you of things about yourself that you can lose in an urban environment.”