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We want to know: Do you have to be married to have a lasting relationship?

Maybe it's the beard that keeps them together? (Photo by Jeffrey Mayer/WireImage)
Maybe it's the beard that keeps them together? (Photo by Jeffrey Mayer/WireImage)

Goldie Hawn has been with Kurt Russell for 32 years, but they’ve never tied the knot – and they don’t plan to.

In a recent interview with Porter magazine, the 69-year-old actress opened up about her relationship.

"A lasting relationship isn't about marriage. It's about compatibility and communication," she said. "And you both need to want it to work. If one person does not want it to work, it isn't going to work. 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. Everything's a choice."

At the same time, Katherine Woodward Thomas writes in Glamour that “serial monogamy is the new marriage.”

Woodward Thomas goes on to explain that “just as it was the norm in our mothers’ generation to marry once, it’s now just as common to not mate for life.”

With over 40 per cent of first marriages, 60 per cent of second marriages, and 70 per cent of third marriages all ending in divorce, and even higher numbers of cohabiting couple partnerships ending every day, we might have to reconsider the relationship goals to which we aspire as a culture,” she continues.

So, we want to know: What do you think? Does marriage necessarily equal love and a lasting relationship? Is it possible to be in a long-term relationship that doesn’t end with marriage or a break-up? Does not tying the knot make it easier to jump ship when problems arise? How do you think this has changed over time?

Let us know in the comments below or by tweeting @YahooShineCA.