Thirty years after her television debut, Goldie Hawn is still at the top: Hollywood's longest-lasting comedienne. Though her contemporaries -- Meryl Streep, Jane Fonda, Barbra Streisand -- are acknowledged as finer actresses, Goldie Hawn's entrepreneurial streak, carefully veiled behind the girly facade, has generated a far greater personal fortune. Hollywood's publicity men continue to project her as the quintessential Miss American Pie, and an indulgent Press has helped to rewrite some of the more colourful aspects of the past. Yet behind the golden giggle exists a complex woman -- 'schizophrenically ambitious', as a former business partner puts it -- who is ready to ditch colleagues, friends, lovers and husbands in her struggle to stay on top. Sexually vulnerable but extremely manipulative, she has enjoyed affairs with an impressive roll-call of Hollywood celebrities and others, yet manages to preserve an air of girlish innocence throughout. She has overcome anorexia, a nervous breakdown and dyslexia. She has had knock-down fights with Demi Moore and Kirstey Alley. She has been criticised for her 'cold, hard streak'. Yet despite many setbacks she remains one of the most-loved icons of twentieth-century American culture. She has also managed, as no comedienne has ever done before, to break through Hollywood's glass ceiling. Now at work with Absolutely Fabulous's writing team of Jennifer Saunders and Ruby Wax, Goldie is guaranteed a follow-up to her recent box office success, The First Wives Club. Absolutely...Goldie is a definitive biography of this Hollywood phenomenon, sourced from a wide range of individuals who have known her well.

Christopher Wilson is an English journalist, broadcaster and author. His authoritative account of the secret relationship between Prince Charles and Camilla Parker Bowles, A Greater Love, was made into a major TV documentary, transmitted in the UK, USA, Canada, Australia, Europe and Japan. He has been a columnist for The Times, the Sunday Telegraph, the Daily Express and Today.