Kate Hudson got candid about her decades-long estrangement from her birth father Bill Hudson during a TV appearance over the weekend.
The Hollywood actor and her brother, actor Oliver Hudson, were born to Bill and Goldie Hawn during the couple’s marriage, which lasted from 1976 to 1982.
After they separated, Kate and Oliver were raised by their mother and her longtime love, actor Kurt Russell.
They have been estranged from Bill from a number of years, with Kate opening up about the situation during an appearance on Sunday Today with Willie Geist.
“I think that estrangement is unfortunately quite common and I think it’s important for people to talk about that,” the Almost Famous actor said.
You “sometimes need a little bit of talk ― and humour ― to move us into places where we can heal some of the wounds that have affected us,” she added.
Though Kate said she had a “great family,” she said the estrangement from her dad is a “41-year-old issue” that deeply affects her and her brother.
“I have a great family, I have a beautiful mother. I have a stepfather who stepped in and played a huge, huge part in sharing what it is to have a dependable father figure in our life,” she said.
“But it doesn’t take away from the fact that we didn’t know our dad. And people sometimes just need to hear that they’re not alone in that.”
Kate and her brother recently opened up about their shared struggles during an episode of the podcast they host together, aptly titled Sibling Revelry.
She told her brother she’d been thinking a lot about their father and connecting with their other siblings
“I’ve been thinking about our sisters that we don’t spend any time with and our brother — brothers. We’ve got four siblings we don’t spend any time with,” she said. “I just had this moment of like, it would be nice to connect a little bit, especially with my sisters.
“Especially because [on the podcast] we’ve been talking so much about sibling relationships and distraught relationships or good” relationships, Kate added as her brother laughed.
“And we’re sitting here like, ‘We have the best family, we’re so great,’ and yet we don’t ever acknowledge the fact that we have four other siblings. Four!” she continued. “So I’ve been thinking a lot about the Hudsons, and thinking that it’s important that we reach out to all of our siblings and maybe connect with them a little bit.”
Oliver spoke about reconnecting with his father after posting a Father’s Day “Happy abandonment day” picture years ago on social media slamming his dad.
The post made headlines and drew a strong response from Bill Hudson, who called it a “a malicious, vicious, premeditated attack” and declared Kate and Oliver “dead to me now.”
But the Rules of Engagement star said he didn’t regret the post (which is still up), because it helped him start speaking with his father again.
“At the end of the day it was a good thing. We’re communicating now,” Oliver said on “Watch What Happens Live” in 2015. “I had an amazing three-hour conversation with him. We’re texting and we’re trying to see each other. We might be mending something.”