Bill Hudson, Kate Hudson's biological father, openly voiced his disapproval of his children still using his last name.
Throughout her life, the actress has had a strained relationship with her biological father and considers Kurt Russell, Goldie Hawn's longtime partner, to be her true father figure.
In fact, she has referred to her biological father's absence as a "blessing" before Bill Hudson emotionally spoke out in an interview, urging Kate and her brother, Oliver Hudson, to cease using his last name.
Bill Hudson and Goldie Hawn were married from 1976 to 1982, and they welcomed Oliver Hudson in 1976, followed by Kate Hudson in 1979. After their divorce, Bill Hudson reportedly played a minimal role in his children's lives, with Russell stepping in to raise them alongside Hawn. Russell and Hawn also had a son together in 1986.
In a February 2016 interview on Jenny McCarthy's SiriusXM show, Kate Hudson mentioned that she saw her biological father's abandonment and their subsequent estrangement as a blessing. She holds no resentment towards him and acknowledges the difficulties of not having a good relationship with one's children.
Kate forgives him for any issues he may have and has moved on. However, in 2015, Bill Hudson had strong words for his children with Hawn.
In separate interviews, the musician criticized his kids for their Father's Day posts on Instagram. Oliver Hudson shared a throwback photo of the three of them with the caption "Happy abandonment day," which he later clarified in a 2018 interview with Larry King as intended to be "darkly comedic." Meanwhile, Kate Hudson shared a photo of herself and Russell, whom both she and Oliver affectionately call "Pa." Bill Hudson, in an interview with The Daily Mail, stated that his two children were "dead" to him and accused Hawn of "poisoning" them against him.
He claimed that he no longer considers Oliver and Kate as his own, stating that he is now a father of three, and requested that they stop using the Hudson name. He further alleged that Hawn had made it impossible for him to see his kids and asserted that he never abandoned his family.
On January 8, 2021, during an episode of their Sibling Revelry podcast, Kate expressed her desire to reconcile past conflicts with her siblings and reflected on the brothers and sisters they have grown apart from in recent times.
