Kate Hudson Opens Up About Relationship With Estranged Father, Says She Forgives Him

Kate Hudson is moving on.

The star of the new movie Deepwater Horizon explained her feelings about her estranged father, Bill Hudson, during her very first appearance on The Howard Stern Show on Wednesday.

Hudson, 37, has been open about her early years and the fact that she didn’t have much of a relationship with her father once her mother, actress Goldie Hawn, split with him when Kate was still a baby. She and her older brother, actor Oliver Hudson, were raised by Hawn and Kurt Russell, Hawn’s partner since 1983.

“I think forgiveness in any aspect is something that is complex,” Hudson told Stern after he brought up the situation. “It is the greatest tool to be able to separate that attachment. So for me, I recognize whatever those issues are is something he has to live with. That must be painful for him, and I forgive him.”

The actress’s answer was beautiful and very different from what her biological father last said publicly about her. Bill spoke out after Oliver posted a hostile message on Father’s Day 2015, in which he wished Kate a “Happy Abandonment Day.”

“I say to them now, ‘I set you free,‘” Bill told the Daily Mail. “I had five birth children, and I now consider myself a father of three. I no longer recognize Oliver and Kate as my own. I would ask them to stop using the Hudson name. They are no longer a part of my life. Oliver’s Instagram post was a malicious, vicious, premeditated attack. He is dead to me now. As is Kate.”

Not that Kate is sitting by the phone waiting for a call from him. In fact, she has always been clear about where she stands when it comes to her biological dad.

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“I never felt it was about losing interest,” she told Stern. “My mom never spoke poorly of him. I was a real tough little girl. I understood what was going on. I did understand that it didn’t have to do with me and Oliver.”

Most of her life, Hudson has had Russell as her father figure. And her pa, as she calls him, was consistently there for her, teaching her trust.

“He is so honest, so brutally honest,” she gushed. “I love him so much; he is just a great guy. He is an original. He doesn’t buy into things.”

Hudson had the chance to act with Russell for the first time in Deepwater Horizon, which gave her yet another opportunity to rave about him on Wednesday’s Good Morning America. This time, she heaped on praise about his work.

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“He puts so much care and effort into his roles in a way that I think is different than a lot of young people I’ve worked with,” Hudson said about the 65-year-old Russell. “It’s just a different mentality.”

She added that working with Russell brought back some happy memories too.

“It was a reminder of me of where I fell in love with making movies,” she said. “It’s really boring [being on set], but for me as a kid, I loved it. I loved every aspect of it, and I loved watching Kurt because he’s such a phenomenal actor.”