KATE HUDSON JUST HIT A MILESTONE SHE ONCE ONLY WHISPERED ABOUT. When the news came in, it didn’t look like celebration at first. There were tears before there was laughter, a pause before the smiles caught up. Kate Hudson’s second Oscar nomination wasn’t met with shock — it was met with emotion, the kind that comes from realizing a long, quiet dream has finally caught up with you. Standing beside Goldie Hawn, the moment carried a weight that went far beyond one role or one performance. This wasn’t just a nomination. It was time folding in on itself. A daughter standing where she once watched her mother stand. A legacy passing through a new chapter instead of staying in the past. The family moment she shared online didn’t feel polished or strategic. It felt real. Overwhelming. Like someone who knows exactly how hard it is to get here, and how easily it could have never happened at all. Kate has spoken before about carving her own path, about wanting to be seen for the work rather than the name. This nomination feels like the quiet proof of that journey — not loud, not flashy, just earned.

Kate Hudson celebrated her second Academy Award nomination with her mom Goldie Hawn and family by her side.

On Thursday, Jan. 22, the star, 46, was nominated in the Best Actress category at the 2026 Oscars for Song Sung Blue alongside Jessie Buckley (Hamnet), Rose Byrne (If I Had Legs I’d Kick You), Renate Reinsve (Sentimental Value) and Emma Stone (Bugonia).

“What a beautiful morning,” the actress wrote in an Instagram post she shared later that day, alongside a photo of her and Hawn, 80, hugging.

She also shared a short video of herself FaceTiming with other members of her family. “Oh my God, you guys! Oh my God, I’m so happy!” Hudson says in the clip.

Hudson was previously nominated for Best Supporting Actress for her role as Penny Lane in the 2000 movie Almost Famous at the 2001 Oscars, though Marcia Gay Harden took home that year’s trophy for Pollock.

Hawn, who won a Best Supporting Actress Oscar in 1970 for the movie Cactus Flower, also took to her own Instagram Jan. 22 to congratulate her daughter.

“Oh, my baby, my baby, my baby girl! I love you as big as the universe,” Hawn wrote. “Congratulations, sweetheart. Once upon time, I had a little girl named Kate! And look at her now! Yay!”

Hudson stars in Song Sung Blue with Hugh Jackman as musical duo Lightning & Thunder, a real-life Neil Diamond tribute band comprised of Milwaukee couple Mike and Claire Sardina. She also received nominations at the Golden Globe Awards on Jan. 11 and at the upcoming 2026 Actor Awards.

A few of Hudson’s celebrity friends responded to her Instagram post on Jan. 22 to congratulate her on her nomination.

“YESSSSSSSS! so proud of you Katie !!!” Reese Witherspoon wrote in a comment. “YES!!! Yes yes yes,” The Studio‘s Ike Barinholtz added, while Dancing with the Stars‘ Julianne Hough wrote, “Yesssssssss ma’am!!!!!!!!”

Conan O’Brien is returning to host the Oscars live on Sunday, March 15, at 7 p.m. ET on ABC and streaming on Hulu.