Oliver Hudson Details ‘Trauma’ From Being Raised By Goldie Hawn

The actor completed a Hoffman Process course to address issues from his upbringing and came to realize: “My mother was the one that I had almost the most trauma about, interestingly enough, because she was my primary caregiver and I was with her all of the time, so I felt unprotected at times.”

Oliver made the revelations on the March 18th episode of his Sibling Revelry podcast, which he cohosts with sister Kate Hudson, and detailed his experience with the Hoffman Institute.

“I did this course called the Hoffman Institute — which was this really powerful thing for me — where you’re unpacking the patterns that were put upon you from your parents and stepparents,” he told podcast guest Bode Miller. “This idea that we have negative love in our lives and in order to survive, we need love of some kind and sometimes it’s not healthy love but we attach ourselves to those things. This course was all about understanding what those patterns were and kind of learning how to break through them and building your toolbox.”

“My mother was the one that I had almost the most trauma about interestingly enough because she was my primary caregiver and I was with her all of the time,” Oliver explained, alluding to Goldie’s split from his father, musician Bill Hudson.

“I felt unprotected at times. She would be working. She had new boyfriends that I didn’t really like. She would be living her life and she was an amazing mother. This is my own perception as a child who didn’t have a dad and needed her to be there and she just wasn’t sometimes and she came out far more than even my dad who wasn’t there,” he continued.

Of course, the most consistent parent is usually the one who shoulders the most blame.

However, coming to a place of forgiveness for his own father has been a long road for Oliver, who was able to share with listeners some fond memories of his dad.

“When I was with him, it was incredible,” Oliver recalled. “He paid attention to me. We played football. We played basketball. We were on the beach. He taught me how to fish. He was so present, but he just was never there. It was a perspective shifter for me for sure.”

“It’s an incredible week of enlightenment on who your parents were and are,” the podcaster said of his experience at the Hoffman Institute. “The forgiveness and compassion you have for them [his parents] at the end of this process is unbelievable. Then you realize they’re only repeating the s–t they went through with their parents.”

“The forgiveness of my father was huge because his dad left him when he was five years old,” he concluded. “My dad didn’t do that exactly, but he bailed. You know, so I can’t always help but think when we’re parenting, like what am I imprinting upon [my kids].”

The 47-year-old raises three children of his own — Wilder, Bodhi, and Rio — with wife Erinn Bartlett.

Oliver and his sister Kate were raised by Goldie and her longtime partner Kurt Russell, who came into the picture in 1983 — soon after her split from Bill.

Both Oliver and Kate have previously praised Kurt for his role in their live, with Kate saying in 2021: “I have a stepfather who stepped in and played a huge, huge part in sharing what it is to have a dependable father figure in our life.”