“It's gonna be hard, but this is important, and I've got to do this.”
Kate Hudson is opening up about her desire to carry on the stories of her mother’s past.
The 45-year-old singer-actress, who has spent the past three decades in the film industry, released her debut studio album, “Glorious,” in May 2024, followed by a deluxe version Feb. 14.
And one of the songs on that deluxe version, “Right On Time,” is about her famous mother, Goldie Hawn.
“This song makes me emotional,” Hudson said as she listened to the tune during an interview with the Los Angeles Times, published Feb. 21.
“It’s my mommy, you know?” she adds.
Hudson’s new song, produced by Linda Perry, details her mother’s origin story and the hardships she overcame in her own journey to fame more than six decades ago.
In one lyric, Hudson claims Hawn used to drive 100 miles “in a busted Caddy with holes in the floor.”
When asked if there was any truth to the lyric, Hudson replied, “Oh, for sure.”
“She used to wrap her feet because she had all these holes in the bottom of the Cadillac — it was her dad’s car — and so she wrapped her feet while she drove to dance class,” Hudson told the LA Times.
“When she’d get there, she’d have to thaw them out in warm water because they were frozen,” she added.
Hudson later explains how her mom would go-go dance in cages at truck stops in New Jersey before moving to New York to pursue her acting career.
“Truck stop baby, won’t you dance for me? / These 18-wheelers ain’t nothin’ to see,” she sings in the song.
Hudson feels obligated to tell her mom’s ‘amazing’ story
Hawn’s career as an actress began in the mid-1960s. She rose to stardom with regular appearances on the sketch comedy show “Rowan & Martin's Laugh-In” before making it onto the big screen.
She won her first Academy Award in 1969 and has appeared in dozens of films ever since.
“Her story is amazing — how wild her stardom was for this little girl who came from a duplex house in Takoma Park, Md.,” Hudson said of her mother.
“As a daughter, I think we’re supposed to carry on the stories of our parents,” she continues.
Hudson then recalls listening to her grandmother share stories from her past and how important it was to have that deep understanding of her family’s history.
With three kids of her own, Hudson says her mother is taking on a similar role as a grandmother herself.
“I live seven blocks from my mom now, and she comes over every day,” Hudson adds.
Hudson shares son Ryder, 21, with ex-husband Chris Robinson, son Bingham, 13, with ex-fiancé Matt Bellamy and daughter Rani, 6, with current fiancé Danny Fujikawa.
Hudson credits her musical talent to her family tree
While Hudson is a naturally-talented singer, she admits that it took her a while to learn it ran in her family.
Her mother and biological father, singer-actor Bill Hudson, divorced when she was just 18 months old, per Hello! Magazine — so she doesn’t have many memories of him to draw inspiration from.
“He wasn’t around,” Hudson said of her biological father. “And I didn’t realize that my deep connection to music was actually in my blood.”
Hudson, instead, was raised by Hawn and her longtime boyfriend, actor Kurt Russell.
She also gave a shout out to her mother’s father, Edward Hawn, who was a professional violinist.
“He’d play the [White House] correspondents’ dinners and then he’d go play bluegrass in these speakeasies. Really fascinating life,” Hudson said of her grandfather.
“But I didn’t really know that until I was older. So as a kid I’d sit in my room and get weird with music,” she continued. “It was kind of lonely.”
