Hudson was born in Los Angeles, the daughter of Academy Award-winning actress Goldie Hawn and Bill Hudson, an actor, comedian, and musician. Her parents divorced eighteen months after her birth; she and her brother, actor Oliver Hudson, were raised in Colorado by her mother and her mother's long-time boyfriend, actor Kurt Russell. Hudson has stated that her biological father "doesn't know me from a hole in the wall", and that she considers Russell to be her father. Her biological father has indicated that he has made several efforts to connect with Kate and Oliver, but neither has reciprocated.
Hudson has described her mother as "the woman that I've learned the most from, and who I look up to, who has conducted her life in a way that I can look up to". She has four half-siblings: Emily and Zachary Hudson, from her biological father's subsequent marriage to actress Cindy Williams; Lalania Hudson, from his relationship with another woman; and Wyatt, from her mother's relationship with Kurt Russell.
Hudson is of English, Italian, and Hungarian Jewish descent, and was raised in her maternal grandmother's Jewish religion; her family also practiced Buddhism. She graduated from Crossroads, an exclusive college preparatory school in Santa Monica, in 1997. She was accepted to New York University, but chose to pursue an acting career instead of an undergraduate degree.
