HOW THEY MADE PEACE

Kate and Oliver Hudson's dad, Bill, talks to Us about reconnecting with his kids: "Things couldn't be better" 

- JAIME HARKIN

During an April 28 appearance on CBS Sunday Morning, Kate Hudson got candid about her strained connection to her biological father, Bill. When asked what her relationship with her dad is like now, the 45-year-old star said, "I don't really have one," before adding a glimmer of hope about what the future might hold: "But it's warming up."

It’s been a long and winding road for Kate, her older brother Oliver, 47, and Bill, who was married to their mom, Goldie Hawn, from 1976 until 1982. The siblings have been open about feeling abandoned by Bill when they were kids. In 2015, Oliver posted a scathing Father’s Day message on Instagram, writing, “Happy abandonment day,” alongside a throwback photo of Oliver and Kate with Bill. Afterward, Bill said he didn’t want to see his eldest children “ever again” but reconnected with Oliver three years later.

Now Bill, 74, tells Us the family is embarking on a fresh start together. “Kate put it perfectly. We are warming up [and] letting things take their course,” says Bill, who is also dad to Emily, 42, and Zachary, 38, with his late ex-wife, Cindy Williams, and 18-year-old Lalania with ex Caroline Graham. (He also had son Paul as a teen, who was put up for adoption.) “All families have rifts. It’s nice that our rift is healing.”

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