Kate Hudson says having her oldest son leave home for college is 'so hard'

Kate Hudson isn't quite an empty-nester just yet — the youngest of her three children is 4-year-old daughter Rani — but the actress is already feeling the sting of seeing her kid leave home and go off to college.

In a new interview with Willie Geist for Sunday Today, Hudson, 43, spoke about adjusting to life without her oldest child, Ryder, at home. The teen, whom Hudson shares with ex-husband Chris Robinson, moved across country for school this year.

"Ugh, it's so hard. All you want is your kid to thrive and be happy, but man, when I'm in L.A. and I go to the coffee machine in the morning and I don't hear his voice — it's a big one," she told Geist, getting emotional.

The Glass Onion star is in good company, however. Hudson told Geist that she's found a support system in celebrity pals like Reese Witherspoon and Gwyneth Paltrow.

"Our kids were in school together," she said of Paltrow, mother of 18-year-old college student Apple Martin. "We both had that moment together, where we look at each other and we're like, 'How ya doing?' Because we experienced it at the same time. And Reese. All three of us ladies, our kids went to college at the same time."

Hudson joked that she tries to play it off like, "I'm good, I'm good."

"But inside you're just like, 'uggggghhh,'" groaned Hudson, who in addition to Rani, 4, and Ryder, who turns 19 next month, has an 11-year-old son named Bing, whose dad is Muse frontman Matt Bellamy.

Hudson previously spoke about Ryder's absence in a September interview with Access Hollywood.

"It's hard to even talk about," she shared. "I'll have a moment where I'll just start crying because something will just hit me that he's not here.

"But he's having a blast, he's in the city, he's like ready," she added. "And that makes me so excited. I'm so excited for his future. When you see your kids thriving and feeling good in their skin that's all I can ask for."

And the actress — who is engaged to Rani's dad, Danny Fujikawa — is determined to make the most of this next chapter of her life, she told Byrdie recently.

"Now I know why all of my friends that were older than me in their 40s were like, 'This is my best. This is my favorite decade so far,'" she said, adding that she hasn't ruled out the possibility of expanding her brood.

"I’ve been having children my entire adult life,” Hudson said. “I’ve got my 4-year-old and I’ve got a kid in college. And I don’t even know if I’m done yet. You know, I don’t have that answer yet.”

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