Kate Hudson took audiences on a personal and nostalgic journey this week during her appearance on Jimmy Kimmel Live!, sharing insights from the journals she’s kept since she was eight years old.
The actress, recently earning her second Oscar nomination for Song Sung Blue, admitted revisiting the diaries was an emotional and slightly terrifying experience.
“I started looking through them and thought, ‘I can’t read these.
I can’t read them,’” Hudson confessed, noting how raw and revealing the entries were.
Despite her hesitation, she allowed viewers a peek into her young thoughts, which were often dramatic, romantic, and surprisingly introspective for a child.
Boy-Crazy Since 1980
The journals revealed a recurring theme: Hudson has been, in her own words, “boy crazy” for most of her life.
Host Jimmy Kimmel teased her about the theme, and Hudson laughed, admitting even her recent reflections are heavily influenced by romance.
She read aloud one of her earliest songs, written at age 12: “The touch of a hand, the whimper of a kiss.”
Hudson paused mid-line to clarify, with amusement, that she hadn’t actually kissed anyone at the time.
The lyrical content was filled with heightened emotions, lingering sensations, and poetic imagery of youthful longing — leaving Hudson equal parts mortified and entertained.
Kimmel’s stunned reaction mirrored the audience’s, as the young actress’ emotional intensity shone through decades later.
Journals Too Personal to Fully Revisit
Hudson admitted she could never dive into all of her journals the way Matthew McConaughey did while writing Greenlights.
The vulnerability of revisiting every private thought would simply be overwhelming.
Still, Kimmel suggested transforming her childhood poem into a performance piece, and Hudson enthusiastically agreed to sing it with the show’s band, embracing the moment as a full-circle milestone.
A Career Milestone Full Circle
The interview also highlighted Hudson’s impressive career journey.
She celebrated her new Oscar nomination arriving exactly 25 years after her first for Almost Famous at age 21. “It’s wild,” she remarked.
“Twenty-five years ago, Almost Famous. Twenty-five years.”
She also reflected on childhood memories, like growing up without a Los Angeles football team and becoming a lifelong Denver Broncos fan after spending time in Colorado during the John Elway era.
Even though the Broncos didn’t make it past the playoffs this year, Hudson is still planning a big Super Bowl party — tacos, dips, and a strict no-grill rule for her brother, Oliver Hudson, to prevent disaster.
Returning Home and Family Memories
Hudson also spoke about buying back the Los Angeles home she grew up in, a 1930s property originally built by Frankenstein director James Whale.
She admitted the house still carries emotional weight. “I feel my grandma and my grandpa in that house.
I feel so much in that house,” she said, noting that unpacking its memories might require therapy.
The conversation turned to her experiences attending awards shows as a celebrity child, or more accurately, being kept from them.
She also reminisced about lending clothing to her mother, Goldie Hawn, including a halter dress that famously slipped at a party.
Oscars Plans: Mom as Her Date
Looking ahead to the Oscars, Hudson confirmed she’ll be bringing her mom as her date.
“How can I not bring my mom? I really want to,” she said, showing that even as an award-season veteran, family remains central to her milestones.
Through laughter, nostalgia, and a touch of embarrassment, Hudson’s interview offered fans a candid glimpse of the woman behind the fame — playful, reflective, and unapologetically connected to her past.
