Why Kate Hudson says her 40s are her ‘favorite decade so far’
Kate Hudson is living her best decade yet.
The mom of three, 43, who appears on the cover of Byrdie’s “After-Dark” digital issue, couldn't help but proclaim to the publication that her 40s have been her “best pocket” of life to date.
“Now I know why all of my friends that were older than me in their 40s were like, 'This is my best. This is my favorite decade so far,'" she said, noting that she “doesn’t really think about” aging in her daily life, and instead chooses to focus on finding joy in the small things.
“I think aging is hard because it gets you closer to the inevitable — that we are impermanent. The question becomes, what do you seek out of life? What is it that makes you feel alive and excited to be a part of this experience?” the Almost Famous star said.
Checking in with herself, she added, is part of that process: “How am I? You know, where am I at? And do I feel good? And do I feel healthy? And how are my kids? How’s my relationship? Like, am I happy right now? And what do I need to be happy? Where do I need to spend some time refocusing?”
Hudson was also quick to point out the double standards women face in Hollywood.
"Everybody wants to talk about, you know, what women are doing to their face. Or how women do anti-aging," she said. "And I love all that stuff. I love talking about what's the new laser, but it's interesting that men don't really get the same questions… but, you know, they're just as worried about aging.”
Still, with age comes wisdom, she notes. It's also given her the confidence to take more risks in her professional ventures as the founder of an activewear empire (Fabletics), a vodka brand (King St. Vodka), a health and nutrition brand (Inbloom) and, along with her actor brother Oliver Hudson, the podcast Sibling Revelry, which they co-host.
“There are just so many things that I enjoy. I really love life,” Hudson says of her side hustles, pointing out a piece of advice given to her by her famous stepdad, Kurt Russell. “He was like, ‘You gotta love something just as much.’ Because it’s such a tumultuous business, you’re never going to be really happy in it.”
“I’ve always loved just jumping into the deep end — and sometimes it’s put me in not the best place, but mostly it’s really put me on the right path,” she said. Of the film business, she added, “You’re always going to want to do something better. You’re always going to want to do something more. You’re going to be a part of this. It’s gonna love you one minute and it’s not gonna love you the next. It happens to everybody in this industry.”
Another lesson she’s learned from age is that happiness is a choice you make every day.
“People talk about joy and happiness and ask me, ‘You seem like you’re so happy all the time’ — and that’s just not the case. I do choose it. And I choose it sometimes when it’s really hard to.”
To that end, Hudson — who shares Rani Rose, 4, with fiancé Danny Fujikawa; Bingham "Bing," 11, with ex-fiancé Matt Bellamy; and Ryder, 19, with ex-husband Chris Robinson — says age hasn't stopped her from considering having more children.
“I’ve been having children my entire adult life,” she said. “I’ve got my 4-year-old and I’ve got a kid in college. And I don’t even know if I’m done yet. You know, I don’t have that answer yet.”
The topic of aging has been on Hudson's mind for a while now — though she's adamant about encouraging women to do what they feel is best for them, including Botox and fillers, so long as they know what they're getting into.
"From the beginning of time, women have been into rituals that made them feel youthful and young," she said on Dear Media's Breaking Beauty podcast in November. "If there's something deeper going on and it's really a challenging thing for you, then I think you need to go to a therapist and talk about why you're chasing your past."
"We're all going to get older and if someone wants to get Botox because it makes them feel like their forehead looks a little tighter, I think that's all good," she continued. "I also think if someone wants to go ruin their face, then that's their prerogative. People should just do what makes them feel good."
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