Oliver Hudson is an esteemed actor in his own right these days, but he says witnessing his mother Goldie Hawn’s experience with fame was “definitely a negative experience” for him at an early age.
On this week’s episode of their “Sibling Revelry” podcast, Kate and Oliver Hudson spoke about their famous mom as part of a conversation with guest Cindy Crawford. In the chat, Oliver Hudson shared his less-than-favourable reaction to witnessing Hawn get assertively approached by fans while she was out with him in public.
“I reflect on these feelings that I used to have when I was a young son and sitting with Mom, and people coming up and wanting her attention,” he said. “It was detracting from her energy toward me, and I hated it.”
“It would make me angry when people would come up to the table and want autographs and interrupt what we were doing,” he continued. “It was this invasion for me as a young boy ... who needed his mother.”
Interestingly, Oliver Hudson noted that Kate Hudson was much more at ease with the attention from outsiders. Though she didn’t refute that assertion, Kate Hudson did note that she wasn’t prepared for the level of scrutiny she’d receive when she won acclaim as an actor in her own right, thanks to films like “Almost Famous” and “How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days.”
“When we were kids, it wasn’t necessarily paparazzi as much as it was fans,” she explained. “What happened with me when I came famous, it was like it was that it was sort of this new world of internet paparazzi, like all of those sites. So I would go to a restaurant and there’d be like 20 [paparazzi] outside, and then I’d get cars chasing me. I didn’t grow up like that.”
Oliver Hudson, best known for his roles on “Nashville” and “Splitting Up Together,” has been open about the complicated feelings he experienced growing up in his mother’s spotlight.
In an episode of “Sibling Revelry” that aired in March, the actor suggested that he experienced more “trauma” firsthand through Hawn than his father, Bill Hudson, who was largely absent during his childhood.
“She was my primary caregiver, and I was with her all of the time, so I felt unprotected at times,” he said. Though he was quick to note that Hawn was “an amazing mother,” he added: “She would be working and away. She had new boyfriends that I didn’t really like. She’d be living her life!”
After his comments about Hawn made headlines, Oliver Hudson clarified that there was “no trauma” lingering from his upbringing, and that his comments were meant to be taken as him speaking from the perspective of his 5-year-old self.
“Without her, again, I’d be nothing,” he said.
Listen to the latest episode of “Sibling Revelry” below.