O
ver the American summer,
Kate Hudson Instagrammed a
photo of herself lounging on a
beach with a copy of the book of
essays All About Love propped
on her bare thigh. Written
in 2000 by feminist scholar
Bell Hooks, these meditations
on love and solitude would seem more at home in a
Fem Theory class than in a celebrity’s bikini selfie.
But Hudson is a living example of a quote in the book:
“The word ‘love’ is most often defined as a noun, yet ...
we would all love better if we used it as a verb.”
Hudson loves as a verb – actively, consciously. She
cuddles and cooks with her sons, Ryder, 12, and
Bingham, 5; meditates with her mum,
Goldie Hawn; and has an open-door
policy for her oldest girlfriends, who
regularly come over to her Los Angeles
house for impromptu hangouts.
“Kate knows how to get everyone to
talk about everything,” says jewellery
designer Jennifer Meyer (Mrs Toby
Maguire), whose father was Hawn’s
agent and who has been friends with
Hudson since school. “We know about
the kids, every fight you’ve been in with the husband,
every break-up, your ex’s girlfriends. You don’t get out of
there without telling her every deepest, darkest secret.”
Bringing people together is one of Hudson’s talents,
but she also craves alone time. “I love locking myself in
rooms and just being quiet,” says the 37-year-old actress.
“A lot of people have a hard time in that space because
when you’re quiet, you feel the uncomfortable things.
You have to actually look at things in your life that are
functioning or not functioning. And I like that place.”
Admittedly, that quiet place isn’t always easy to find.
She’s been in New York for six months (with plans to get
her own digs here soon), and this morning she shot a
campaign with Michael Kors for the designer’s “Watch
Hunger Stop” partnership with the United Nations
World Food Programme. Now we’re having lunch at a
Midtown Japanese restaurant. And tonight, she’s takingRyder (her son with Black Crowes singer Chris
Robinson) to see the musical Hamilton on Broadway,
then hopping on a plane with her sons to meet up with
her ex-fiancé (and Bing’s dad), Muse frontman Matt
Bellamy, with whom she remains friendly.
“We go to London every summer. Matt’s whole
family is in England. And Matt is touring Europe, so we
just made the decision to base ourselves out of there,”
explains Hudson, wearing a black-and-white backless
sweater, ripped high-waisted jeans, and caramel suede
boots by Zimmermann. Her phone buzzes: it’s the boys,
wanting scooters. Watching her, I’m reminded of the
inaugural cover of Gloria Steinem’s Ms. magazine,
featuring Miriam Wosk’s iconic illustration of a blue,
eight-armed goddess juggling the dizzying demands of a
woman’s life – just swap out the frypan
for a Fendi bag, and it could be Hudson.
“She’s got the energy of a dervish,” says
Kors. “A lot of people try to juggle, but
they don’t really do it very well. She’s
very present with all that she does.”
Her latest focus is her new movie,
Deepwater Horizon, about the epony-
mous BP oil rig that exploded in 2010,
killing 11 people and creating one of
the worst environmental disasters in
US history. “The focus is on the humanity versus the
environmental impact,” says Hudson, who plays the wife
of a chief technician (Mark Wahlberg) in the film, which
also co-stars her “Pa”, Kurt Russell (Hawn’s long-term
partner whom Hudson considers her dad).
Deepwater Horizon and the upcoming drama
Marshall, about a pivotal case in the early legal career of
future Supreme Court Justice Thurgood Marshall, mark
a bit of a departure for Hudson, who is known for lighter
fare like How To Lose A Guy In 10 Days and Bride Wars.
But Russell believes that she has a lot more to offer. “As
clever as Kate is with romantic comedy and comedy
itself, she’s a better dramatic actress. That hasn’t really
been displayed as much as I hope she gets the opportu-
nity to do. If you watch Almost Famous closely, you can
see it,” he says, referring to her 2000 role as groupie
Penny Lane, for which she won a Golden Globe for BestIn the new environmental disaster drama
Deepwater Horizon, Kate Hudson breaks out of her
usual sunny on-screen persona. It’s not the only way
she’s changing things up, writes Brooke Hauser
“I love locking
myself in a room
and just being
quiet, you feel the
uncomfortable
things”Interview
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