Kate Hudson morphs from movie to rock star at 45: ‘They told me I was too old’

They say it’s never too late to chase your dreams and, in the entertainment world, several stars have proven that dictum to be more than a slogan emblazoned on t-shirts and breakfast mugs. Leonard Cohen, for example, released his first album at 33; Sia was about to celebrate her 40th birthday when her anthem Chandelier earned her a ticket to global stardom; Morgan Freeman finally made a name for himself in Hollywood at 50; and, before mutating into an icon of the seventh art with Star Wars and Indiana Jones, Harrison Ford had been a carpenter for as long as he could remember. Harder still is to shift discipline within the artistic sphere, particularly after making your name, but this is what Kate Hudson has recently achieved. Known for films like Almost Famous and How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days, Hudson took two and a half years out of her acting career to decide on something she had been thinking about since her youth: namely, to become a musician at the age of 45.

Glorious, Kate Hudson’s solo debut album, was released on May 17 and has since been among the top 10 best-selling albums in the U.S. charts. Described by the music magazine, Rolling Stone, as one of the “most pleasant surprises of the year,” the album moves between classic rock, blues and country with songs written by the artist herself, inspired by musicians such as Linda Ronstadt and Stevie Nicks.

Singer-songwriter Linda Perry, who produces artists such as Adele, Christina Aguilera and Pink, is largely responsible for Hudson’s decision to take this step. “Kate should have led with music — she is such a rock star,” she recently told People magazine. The seeds of their collaboration lies in a coincidence worthy of the many romantic comedies that made the actress a romcom icon par excellence. Hudson agreed to sing a version of Katy Perry’s Firework at a Zoom charity event organized by the Los Angeles school attended by Linda Perry’s son. Surprised by Hudson’s hidden talent when she happened to tune in, Perry was quick to make contact. She told Hudson she had no idea she could sing like that, and asked if she also wrote her own songs. When Hudson said she did, she invited her over to her studio. Hudson, wrote the 12 songs that make up the album in just two weeks.

The actress admits that she needed a lot of therapy to be able to face her fears and take this step. Even when she was about to try it for the first time, at the age of 30, someone in the music industry, whose identity she did not want to reveal, told her that she was “too old” to become a vocalist. The restrictions imposed by the pandemic were the ultimate epiphany: “When Covid happened, it was like, ‘What am I doing? What is my life? What’s going to happen if I die? This will be my great regret ever, that I didn’t allow myself to share music. And even if it’s one person who loves it, it would mean so much to me.’”

Hudson has, in fact, given many clues over the years regarding her love of music, both on and off-screen. In Almost Famous (2000) — her first big Hollywood role — she played a groupie. She has also appeared in several musicals (Nine, Music, Glee); and the fathers of her three children are well-known figures in the industry: Ryder’s father is Chris Robinson, the singer of The Black Crowes; Bingham’s father is Matt Bellamy, leader of the famous rock band Muse, and Rani’s father is her current partner, Danny Fujikawa, who also produced the album Glorious.

From Cher to Scarlett Johansson, Jennifer Lopez to Juliette Lewis, the list of famous actors who have tried their hand at music is long, albeit with mixed results. But in the case of Hudson, it is surprising how late she took the plunge. Daughter of the famous Goldie Hawn and musician Bill Hudson, she was just a child when her parents split. She was then raised by her mother and stepfather, the no less famous Kurt Russell. It has been precisely her pedigree and the consequent media scrutiny that has held her back from pursuing her dream for so long. “If I would’ve done this in my late twenties, I think it would’ve been very hard for me to not sort of get carried into what people were saying,” she said. “And at this age and where I’m at in my life, I don’t have that same fear of rejection anymore. I really just want to share it. I recognize that you’re not going to win everybody over. But I can’t be led by that fear, or else I just would never put art into the world.”

Although deprived for so long of a music career, Hudson has proven to be one of the most professionally active celebrities in the hills of Los Angeles. Over the years, she has managed to twin a more or less stable career in Hollywood with a business portfolio worthy of the hungriest wolf on Wall Street. Besides Fabletics, a company founded in 2013, specializing in sports fashion with leggings as its star product, she is also behind a line of cosmetics, nutrition and vitamin supplements called Inbloom.

In 2019, she joined the raft of actors to sponsor an alcoholic beverage brand with King St. Vodka, reflecting her passion for cocktails. But while she has an increasing number of irons in the fire, Hudson insists she does not intend to leave our screens any time soon. For a start, the psychological thriller Shell is pending release, in which she stars alongside Elisabeth Moss and Kaia Gerber — a futuristic movie in which the obsession with youth and beauty has reached an extreme; and she plays the owner of a globally famous professional basketball team in Running Point, the new comedy series from Mindy Kaling (The Office) for Netflix.

Sign up for our weekly newsletter to get more English-language news coverage from EL PAÍS USA Edition