The Hollywood star Kate Hudson spoke out over the weekend to praise her stepfather Kurt Russell for helping to raise her as she also opened up about her estrangement from her biological dad, Bill Hudson.

While appearing on Sunday Today with Willie Geist, Hudson publicly thanked Russell for “sharing what it is to have a dependable father figure in our life.” Russell has been in a longterm relationship with Hudson’s mother, Goldie Hawn, since 1983. Hawn had been married to Bill from 1976 until 1982.

“I have a great family,” said Hudson, 41. “I have a beautiful mother. 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. But it doesn’t take away from the fact that we didn’t know our dad.”

“I think that estrangement is unfortunately quite common. It’s a 41-year-old issue,” she added, referring to her strained relationship with biological dad.

Hudson went on to admit that she still loves her biological dad, and to explain that she is open to talking about their issues with one another in the hopes of helping others in similar situations.

“I think as I’ve sort of gone through that process … I kind of look at my dad and I’m, like, ‘You know, the love has never ever gone anywhere. It’s always been there, no matter what those complications have been,'” she said. “And healing is… personal, and I think people sometimes just need to hear that they’re not alone in that.”

This comes after Hudson admitted to her brother Oliver on their podcast Sibling Rivalry that she’d been thinking about reaching out to their biological father and half siblings lately.

“You know what I’ve been thinking about lately? Dad,” she told him. “I’ve been thinking about our sisters that we don’t spend any time with and our brother – brothers. We’ve got four siblings we don’t spend any time with. I was thinking about how everybody’s getting older. It would be nice to connect a little bit, especially with my sisters.”

Kate has spent the last few months in quarantine with her three young children, and she admits that this has not always been easy.

“The reality is that there are days that are great and there are days I have to remind myself to be grateful,” she confessed. “When you have so many kids, you know sometimes you have those moments where you’re hiding in your bathroom going, ‘Please, please, get me out of here.’ I just remind myself there’s a lot of people out there who have lost their loved ones and we’ve just gotta stay in for a bit.”