Oliver Hudson will have one extra family member wishing him a happy 50th birthday on September 7: his formerly estranged father, Bill Hudson.
The actor and his sister, Kate Hudson, had a very complicated relationship with their biological dad growing up, with their mom, Goldie Hawn, once describing him as an "absentee father."
The siblings were primarily raised by Goldie and her partner of over 40 years, Kurt Russell, whom they refer to as their "Pa."
However, over the last several years, Oliver has been working on rebuilding his relationship with his birth father.
"We are getting along great right now; we're in contact now more than ever," Oliver told Us Weekly in December 2025.
"I text with him almost every other day now. We're talking about a few little projects together," he added. "Yeah, it's been great. I think it's important, very important."
© Getty ImagesOliver reconnected with Bill following a now-infamous Father's Day post in 2015, in which he shared a photo of himself and Kate with Bill, captioning it: "Happy abandonment day… @katehudson."
"I posted something, and I was trying to be funny, and it was a bit dark, and it just set off this firestorm that I wasn't expecting," he explained to the outlet. "But it definitely brought us together."
He continued: "We've had amazing conversations, amazing lunches, throwing back some beers and crying and sort of understanding each other more and more. It was really beautiful, honestly, to sit down with him and look at my reflection, in a way."
© InstagramAfter Oliver's Father's Day post, Bill gave an interview to The Mail in which he spoke out against his kids, stating: "I say to them now, 'I set you free'. I had five birth children, but I now consider myself a father of three. I no longer recognize Oliver and Kate as my own.
"I would ask them to stop using the Hudson name. They are no longer a part of my life. Oliver's Instagram post was a malicious, vicious, premeditated attack. He is dead to me now. As is Kate. I am mourning their loss even though they are still walking this earth."
Realizing the error of his post, Oliver reached out to a "hurt" Bill soon after, and the father-son duo began mending their relationship.
© Getty Images"I called him, and we got on the phone and talked. It was really productive," he revealed in a 2018 interview on Larry King Now.
"Then we saw each other, had breakfast, and it was the first time I had seen him in 12 years, and it was really amazing to see him. We talked it out, and we had a really great three-hour conversation."
In his 2025 interview, Oliver insisted that rebuilding his relationship with his dad doesn't change his bond with his stepfather, Kurt.
"[Bill] made me; I'm half of that dude, and I don't see that in Kurt, to be fair, because he's not biological," he explained.
© Getty Images"So when I look at my dad, he looks a lot like me. The way he thinks about life is a lot like mine. The way he operates — it was just so interesting."
He added: "Obviously Kurt's not my blood father, but I have a lot of his mannerisms.... Pa's just got so much life force in him.
"What he did for me was took me from a little scared boy who was a mama's boy and taught me how to be alone, taught me independence, the freedom of being able to find your way and not have to rely on people, a toughness. He made me the man that I am, 100 percent."
