Kate Hudson on Her Role in ‘Running Point’, Nepo Baby Struggles, and Why She’s Not Rushing to Marry

As Isla Gordon, a flighty former party girl unexpectedly tapped to run her family’s pro basketball team on Netflix’s Running Point, Kate Hudson is continually underestimated by her peers, her family and even the players of the fictional L.A. Waves as she remakes the team into (spoiler alert) almost champs. Discussing the sexism that’s often played for laughs on the comedy, the 45-year-old got serious in a recent interview with Glamour. As a woman, she told the mag, “when you assert yourself and you put your foot down or you have very strong boundaries… you sort of understand that you’re risking being ‘likeable.””

Likability has rarely been an issue for the actress, who rose to fame and scored an Oscar as the indelible Penny Lane in 2000’s Almost Famous. She was a mainstay in a string of 2000s rom-coms and became the smiling, yoga-blissed face of her activewear line Fabletics, largely stepping back from acting in recent years. When creator Mindy Kaling came calling, however, Kate who spoofed her boho fabulousness in 2022’s Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery knew she had to sign on. “She’d never done a series before, let alone one on a streaming network,” a source tells Star. “That was daunting, but it was well worth the commitment.”

A fellow “nepo baby,” the actress could relate to her character. The daughter of musician Bill Hudson, she was brought up by Hollywood royalty, her mom, Goldie Hawn, and her longtime partner, Kurt Russell. Like her alter ego, she’s prickly about the implication her success is solely due to her parentage. “Look, we live in a time where I think it started as a way to undermine people that I actually see as really talented artists,” she insisted, adding that it’s only natural for kids of “storytellers and artists” to follow that path.

With four brothers, including the actor Oliver Hudson, her cohost on the Sibling Revelry podcast, Kate can also feel for Isla as she battles her less-than-supportive sibs, hilariously played by Justin Theroux, Drew Tarver and Scott MacArthur. As she told Forbes, “Honestly, I feel like I’ve always had to prove myself to my brothers, and this has been a through line for me with this show. You want your brothers to see and value you, because boys go off and do things, and they don’t always invite their sisters.”

Family First

She revels in her own “patchwork” family. Wed to Black Crowes frontman Chris Robinson from 2000 to 2007, she shares 19-year-old Ryder-currently a student at a performing arts school with him. Son Bingham, 13, arrived three months after her engagement to Muse lead singer Matt Bellamy. (They split in 2014.) She and fiancé Danny Fujikawa, also a musician, are parents to Rani, 6. She remains close to her exes, gushing about Chris, for example, “He taught me everything about love. He was the best, even though it didn’t end up working out. He gave me so much knowledge of how to feel unconditionally loved.” Back then, she admitted, she wasn’t ready. By the time she and Danny – a high school classmate she calls “soulful”-reconnected, she’d done the work. “I was, like, I have to figure out what the my problem is, or at least own whatever the problem is, and I have to just be alone for a while,” she said of taking time off from dating. Learning to be happy by herself, she said, allowed her to let Danny in. “It’s the most beautiful relationship. He’s just such a grounding force for me. He’s so pure. He’s such a good man.”

Unwedded Bliss

That doesn’t mean they’re getting hitched anytime soon. Engaged to Danny since September 2021, Kate has said she’s in no rush to make things legal. Indeed, she recently dropped by Drew Barrymore’s chat show and joked that, while she’d love to receive a gravy boat off a wedding registry, she’d prefer to remain “engaged forever.” Noting her mom’s more than 40-year relationship, she told the host, “The contractual thing is tough for me, because I was raised by Goldie Hawn and Kurt Russell, who never signed the document.”