Kate Hudson is reflecting on her career following her second Oscar nomination — 25 years after she received her first Academy Award nod.
Last month, the 46-year-old star received a best actress Oscar nomination for her critically acclaimed performance in the 2025 biographical musical drama “Song Sung Blue.” Hudson was first nominated for a best supporting actress Academy Award in 2001 after making her breakthrough in 2000 comedy drama “Almost Famous.”
On Feb. 12, Hudson attended the 28th Costume Designers Guild Awards at the Ebell in Los Angeles, where she received the Spotlight Award, which honors actors whose careers showcase an enduring commitment to excellence and a deep appreciation for the art of costume design. During an interview with Fox News Digital on the red carpet, Hudson reflected on the advice that she would give her younger self.
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“I think giving advice to my younger self would be like discounting all of the decisions that I made that were also like good decisions — even the mistakes and the ones that were challenging decisions that I made formed everything for who I am right now, so I wouldn’t go back and do anything different,” she said.
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However, looking back, Hudson, who has had a number of iconic on-screen fashion moments, realized that she did have one career regret.
“You asked what I would do different and I was gonna say, I’d keep more clothes!” she told Fox News Digital.
The following day, Hudson picked up another accolade when she was recognized for her acting achievements at the Santa Barbara International Film Festival. Hudson’s longtime friend Gwyneth Paltrow presented her with the Arlington Award, following an on-stage conversation about her career with The Hollywood Reporter‘s Scott Feinberg.
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While speaking with Fox News Digital ahead of the event at the Arlington Theatre, Hudson expressed her excitement over receiving the award and looking back at her career at the event, which featured clips from all of her past projects.
“I came a little early, so I got to experience a little bit of Santa Barbara,” she said. “It’s so beautiful here. I love it here. And I’m so happy. I mean, this is exciting. I get to reflect on a lot of the films that I’ve made tonight, and yeah, it’ll be really, really interesting to see everything. And I love the love that ‘Song Sung Blue’ is getting, and we love this movie. It’s touched so many hearts, and so it’s just this whole experience has been wonderful.”
Hudson also reflected on her experience with how navigating awards season as an Oscar nominee differed from her first time around.
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“I kind of related to having a third child,” said the actress.
Hudson is mother to son Ryder Robinson, 21, whom she shares with her ex-husband, The Black Crowes lead singer Chris Robinson. She also shares son Bingham Hawn Bellamy, 14, with her ex-fiance, Muse frontman Matt Bellamy, and Rani Rose Hudson Fujikawa, 7, with her fiancé, musician Danny Fujikawa.
“It’s like, you just take everything in differently,” she continued. “You soak it up, and also you have all these relationships that you’ve created over the years, and people that you know and that you have really like spent a lot of time with and worked with. So the room feels a lot cozier than it did when I was 21.”
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“I was so young, right?” Hudson added, “So I just really started my career, and it was a new room for me. And now I get to be at these parties and celebrate friends. It does feel different.”
While speaking with Fox News Digital, Hudson shared how her three children have reacted to her Oscar nomination.
“They know I’m busy, and they’re excited,” she said. “My older kids are really excited for me. And I think Rani just loves seeing all the outfits I leave the house.”
“And she’s like, ‘Oh, what’s that one, Mom? What’s that?’ But they’re excited,” she said.
After Paltrow arrived at the event, the “Shakespeare in Love” star and Hudson shared a warm embrace before posing on the red carpet together. Once inside the Arlington Theatre, Hudson took the stage for a lengthy Q-and-A sit-down with Feinberg in front of a packed audience.
During their conversation, Hudson recalled words of wisdom that her father Kurt Russell gave her at the 2001 Academy Awards after she lost the Oscar to Marcia Gay Harden, who won for her performance in “Pollock.” Hudson’s biological father is musician Bill Hudson, 76, who was married to her mother Goldie Hawn, 80, from 1976 to 1982. Bill and Hawn also share son Oliver, 49.
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Hudson and Oliver were primarily raised by her mother, Hawn and her partner of 43 years, Kurt Russell, 74, whom the actress has publicly described as her father figure.
“I lost, and everything happened so fast. My dad just turned to me — he was down a couple, and Kurt just goes, ‘Congratulations, now you can go have a career,'” Hudson remembered. “And I was like, ‘Yeah, that’s right.’ And that was Kurt’s way of saying, like, ‘Welcome, this is what it is. Everything happens and in a second it’s all over.'”
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After her star-making turn as free-spirited “Band-Aid” Penny Lane in “Almost Famous,” Hudson was cast in a string of hit romantic comedies, including 2003’s “How to Lose A Guy in Ten Days,” 2008’s “Fool’s Gold,” 2009’s “Bride Wars” and 2011’s “Something Borrowed,” among others.
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While speaking with Feinberg, Hudson reflected on her rom-com queen status and how she approaches projects in the genre.
“I think it’s one of the hardest genres to get right,” Hudson said.
She explained that when starring in romantic comedies, she sets out “with the intention like everybody does a great film, not with the intention of making a rom-com.”
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Hudson shared that while romantic comedies were foundational to her fame, she is actively seeking roles that allow her to transform and challenge herself, noting that being widely known for rom-coms sometimes made it hard for filmmakers to see her in different types of roles.
“It was clear that that’s where the industry liked to hire me and then my goal, my hope, was to make the best versions of those,” she said. “In that time, it was also like there’s a lot of factors: you’ve got your team, you’ve got people saying, ‘We really think you should do this, these are great directors.’ And then you have moments where you’re also like, ‘That’s a lot of money and I’m a single mom.’”
Hudson continued, “And despite working with some top filmmakers and making hits, I was starting to be like, I really want to be doing something different. And I think when you become really famous doing that genre, it’s hard for certain filmmakers to see you in anything other than what we’re watching. These sort of things that like, ‘Well, transforming isn’t what she does’ when, in fact, it’s what I love to do.”
She went on to explain that “Song Sung Blue” gave her that opportunity and felt like the beginning of a new phase in her career. The actress, who also received nominations for a Golden Globe Award, a BAFTA Award and an Actor Award, emphasized that her choices are driven not by awards recognition but by stories that move audiences and challenge her as an artist.
In “Song Sung Blue”, which was based on a true story, Hudson stars as Claire “Thunder”Sardina opposite Hugh Jackman as Mike “Lightning” Sardina, who performed as a Neil Diamond tribute band called Lightning & Thunder. During the film, Hudson sings onscreen and the star was widely praised by critics for both her acting and her singing.
Hudson had previously embarked on a music career, releasing her debut studio album “Glorious” in May 2024, which charted on the Billboard Heatseekers. While speaking with Feinberg, Hudson recalled that she had long wanted to pursue music but had been warned that it could jeopardize her acting career.
“I always thought music would be something that I would do, but then it was like, ‘OK, don’t break what’s not broken’ and this idea of sort of crossover careers could have been a kiss of death,” she said. “You’re sort of warned against it, like ‘Just enjoy your career, enjoy this part right now.'”
Hudson remembered that she had been particularly discouraged after telling someone that she wanted to make an album when she was in her 30s.
“They’re like, ‘You’re kind of too old now to sort of break out as a musical act or to have a musical career,'” she recalled.
“He wasn’t wrong,” Hudson admitted. “It just weighed on me. And then finally, COVID happened, and I was like, ‘I will just regret it if I don’t do it. I have to do it.'”
“And so I did it, and then I couldn’t believe the reception that it received,” she remembered. “It was so warm and loving and loved. And I was like, ‘Why didn’t I do this before?'”
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Hudson also shared her thoughts on what may come next as her awards recognition opens new doors.
“It doesn’t mean to me that all of a sudden I just want to be doing this for the concept of the accolades; I want to do it to put people in the theater too,” she said. “This feels like the beginning of maybe that part where I get to do a little bit more transformations than maybe I’ve been able to do in the past.”
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After the conversation concluded, Paltrow took the stage to present Hudson with the Arlington and gave a heartfelt speech about her longtime friend.
“We have logged a lot of life together and lived a lot of chapters alongside each other — marriages to musicians, plural. We had our expat years in London, babies and renovating houses. And, oh, her 30th birthday, where I got really drunk. My 40th birthday, where everybody, I think, got really drunk,” Paltrow joked as the audience laughed and cheered.
Paltrow, who won a best actress Oscar in 1999 for her performance as Viola de Lesseps in “Shakespeare in Love,” recounted her reaction after watching Hudson in “Song Sung Blue.”
“I FaceTimed you when I finished, and I burst into tears, not only because I was so proud of your skill and your brilliance, but because I felt you finally had a role that shows all of what you can do,” she said.
