“I'm passionate about feeding our children”: Kate Hudson on working with the UN’s World Food Programme

You of course know her for the timeless role of Penny Lane in Almost Famous (2000) or starring opposite Matthew McConaughey in How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days (2003), but offset, Kate Hudson has been a goodwill ambassador for the United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) for more than two years.

The Oscar-nominated actress has supported the organisation’s work to end world hunger since 2015. This is when she first joined Michael Kors’ Watch Hunger Stop Campaign, which raises funds for WFP’s school-meals programme, taking her to rural Cambodia to visit schools supported by the programme and meet farmers who grow the food for the meals.

While the pandemic has grounded Hudson like the rest of us, the WFP’s work is more urgent than ever. So, last November—shortly after the WFP was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize—Hudson, 41, helped launch the #CrossTheDistance campaign to raise money and awareness about the world’s worst hunger emergencies, including those in Yemen, Democratic Republic of Congo, South Sudan, the Sahel region and Syria.

Here, Vogue talks to the actor about her WFP role, shares her hopes for the Biden-Harris presidency and explains why she is backing women filmmakers.

You’ve been working with the WFP for the best part of six years now. What aspects of the organisation's work really resonate with you?

“What I love about the WFP is that there are so many different aspects to it. They don’t just distribute money for food, but help countries be self-sustaining through their school feeding and health initiatives. Places where women and young girls weren’t getting an education, they now are because the families know that if they go [to school], they will be fed. It's one of the reasons why the WFP was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize—food is making a peaceful way forward for women and young girls to be educated.”

What do you want to achieve through your role as a goodwill ambassador?

“I recognise I'm an actor and a businesswoman, and I have the ability to reach almost 13 million people [through Instagram] and that can hopefully help us continue to do great work. I do it because I care and my hope is that I can inspire others to care. I'm really passionate about making sure that we can feed our children, as well as mental health—about [growing] healthy minds. Many women struggle with breastfeeding—if it doesn't work, you feel like you're not giving your children what they need instinctively as a mother, even if you have another means of feeding them. Put yourself in the situation where you don't and it’s devastating.”

Your mother founded The Goldie Hawn Foundation. Do you think your passion for philanthropy was inherited from her?

“My grandmother always told my mum that you have to look at everything you get and give back; for every dollar you make, [donate] 10 cents; for all the joy you receive, give that joy back—it’s ingrained. People who come from charitable and empathetic backgrounds want to talk about caring and nurturing, and the importance of continuing that.

“Whenever it's my time to pass on, I want to leave something meaningful [behind] and I hope my kids do that, too. I want them to go out into the world and know they don’t have to be the owner of a Fortune 500 company to be worth something; to know that if they create beautiful things—no matter what it brings them—that’s success.”

How has the past year been for you and your family, and how have you been looking after your mental health?

“It's been a roller coaster, as it has for everyone. I try to take one day at a time and incorporate activities and time outside with my children into the day—the more sedentary we are, the harder [the situation] is on us. The virus makes me angry because you don't know how it's going to affect somebody—it's so unpredictable. At the same time, understanding and accepting the unpredictable nature of life is really important. We all are mortal and that we all need to protect each other as much as we can.”

Are you more hopeful politically with the US’s Biden-Harris presidency?

“I don't like how divisive and polarising politics can be. I come from a big family with different political views and yet we all figure out how to love each other so I know that we can live together and have different opinions. I like that President Biden says that he is everyone's president, and I hope he is. From social injustice to health care and the school systems, our country has a lot of work to do. Solution-orientated people aren't as loud—they listen more, and that’s the kind of support we need to get through this pandemic. Like so many women [on inauguration day], I thought, ‘Yes! Finally, it’s about time.’”

Later this year, you will appear in Nichelle Tramble Spellman’s series Truth Be Told opposite Octavia Spencer and Ana Lily Amirpour’s film, Mona Lisa and the Blood Moon. In an industry where men outnumber women four to one in key roles, are you making a conscious decision to get behind women filmmakers?

“I love working with women (and men!). It's very important to me, but it's never been a conscious thing. With an actor-producer mother such as Goldie Hawn, and her relationship with women including [filmmaker] Nancy Meyers, it’s second nature. As light and airy as people love to see my mom, I grew up with her and she’s so hardworking and won’t [be deterred] from what she knows she can do. A team of badass women are working on Truth Be Told and they wrote a really interesting character for me. Anybody who's ever worked with Octavia will know there isn’t a more wonderful, talented, smart, open woman. I hope these [COVID-19 restrictions] are lifted in time for us to go on a little tour and do some interviews together.”

How would you like to see the film industry evolve as we strive to reach gender parity?

“I want real balance, not fake balance, and I believe you can only do that by investing more in women’s work—[Patty Jenkins' 2017 film] Wonder Woman is a great example. When a company says their workforce is made up of X per cent women, X per cent Black women, X per cent Latina women, but their board and executive team is made up of only white men—we need to change that. How do we make this happen? Are there no other investors in the world other than white men? I’m passionate about making sure that in any business that I do—and in any films that I make—I ask these questions and the shift is being made.”

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