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Razor-Straight
Kate Hudson has a glow about her. It's not just the glow of success, though at age 25 she's already starred in nearly a dozen films and earned an Oscar nomination (for her turn as rock music groupie Penny Lane in Almost Famous). It's not just her genes, although she did inherit a giggly, groovy spirit from her mother, Goldie Hawn. And it's something even beyond the glow of a new mother; two months before our interview Hudson gave birth to a healthy baby boy, Ryder Russell, with husband Chris Robinson, former lead singer for The Black Crowes.No, Hudson's glow comes from liking who she is, knowing what she wants and keeping her priorities razor-straight. Family first, always. Kate says she'd rather hang out with her parents, her brothers, her husband (she married Robinson when she was just 21) and baby than do almost anything else. She had a less than traditional upbringing, raised by Hawn and long-time partner Kurt Russell after her father, comedian-musician Bill Hudson, split when she was a toddler. Still, her blended clan -- including Oliver, 27, Hawn's son with Hudson, and Wyatt, 17, Hawn's son with Russell -- has emerged as a model of family values.
Their secret? On the eve of the release of her latest film, Raising Helen (a comedy in which Hudson's character unexpectedly, but appropriately enough, ends up raising her sister's three children), Hudson explains why life is, more than anything, about being there for the people you love.
RD: After your Oscar nomination, you were a hot commodity in Hollywood. A lot of actresses in your position would have felt they had to delay real life -- things like marriage and children -- for their career.
Hudson: I don't care enough. I care more about my family life, at the end of the day, than my career.
RD: Really?
Hudson: I come from a family where all we want to do is be with each other. I was raised that way, and I always wanted to be a mom. And the truth is that the really good film roles for women don't start happening until you're in your thirties. Then you can play anything. For me right now there are very few roles that are good and complicated.
RD: I take it you got some advice on that from people who were pretty familiar with the business.
Hudson: The good thing about having the parents [I have is that] I know that the film industry will suck you in and spit you out. I love my life. I love the work. That's what fuels me.
But I want to be home with my family, my brothers and my parents, and that is more important to me than anything.
RD: Why are you so close with your parents? Was it something about the way you were raised?
Hudson: Well, I got very lucky with Kurt, because he was a very present dad. And that doesn't happen to too many people who have divorced parents. It is courageous to take on the role of being a parent. It takes a lot of guts. It's terrifying. Kurt -- all he ever wants to do is the kids.
My mother went through her own struggles. She wasn't like the Betty Crocker, happiest person in the world all the time. But she let us be our own persons. She said to me when I got pregnant that the hardest thing to remember as a parent is that you don't possess your children. The second they come out they no longer belong to you. You have to let them be their own persons. You have to want them to be better than you in everything.
RD: How did your mom handle that?
Hudson: As a young girl I could have looked at her and said, "Look what I have to contend with." But I never had to think that, because she was more interested in me being bigger than she was. You see a lot of kids who have serious problems because their parents are more interested in themselves than the children. We didn't have that problem.
RD: Do you ever think, Wow, my mother is Goldie Hawn?
Hudson: Only when I watch old "Laugh-In" reruns. Then I go, "Who is that person?" She's like this weird alien that came down and just freaked everybody out. But really, I look at her, and here's an incredible woman from a time when women were not on top, and she was -- and remains there.
RD: Wasn't she away a lot on films?
Hudson: We were with her all the time. She was a very hands-on mom. We traveled a lot. When she wasn't working, we were home.
RD: What was your home life like? Tell us, how would you spend a Saturday?
Hudson: Like anybody else. Really. We lived in Colorado. We did what everybody else does. Laughed, screamed at each other, cried, scraped ourselves. I didn't really realize what my parents did [for a living] for a very long time. They were good at hiding that kind of stuff. If we did do anything that was privileged, we knew it was a privilege. We didn't hear the end of it.
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