Oliver Hudson has learned to embrace vulnerability, and it has transformed his relationships, particularly with the women in his life.
The And Just Like That… actor has been married to his wife Erinn Bartlett for almost 20 years, and he also has tight-knit relationships with his mother Goldie Hawn, and his sister Kate Hudson.
And though he said he has never had an issue expressing his love for them, it wasn't until going through therapy that he was able to do so comfortably in person, rather than through writing.
During an appearance on The Drew Barrymore Show Wednesday, October 16, Oliver was part of an advice segment, and discussed how to get men to open up about their emotions.
"It's tough because, you know, having that vulnerability, being vulnerable, is a scary thing," he said, noting that therapy was a "number one" for him to overcome that fear.
He continued: "I'm speaking from experience because for me, with women, with my mother, with my sister and my wife, it was very hard for me to express love."
"I did it through writing because it was safe, but if I had to say, 'You know what, I love you so much, I'm so proud of you and I'm so excited to be in this relationship,' I would feel like I would want to crawl into a hole," he confessed.
Lastly he added: "I've been in a lot of therapy and have dealt with a lot of stuff to be able to be vulnerable, to be able to express emotion and not be afraid of it."
This isn't the first time Oliver opens up about the positive impact therapy has had on him and his relationships. During an episode of his and his sister Kate's podcast Sibling Revelry earlier this year, he detailed his experience going to the Hoffman Institute, a popular week-long therapy retreat.
Describing it as a "really powerful" experience, he noted how his experience with it largely focused on "unpacking the patterns that have been put upon you from your parents and then step parents as well."
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He went on to detail how the process helped him understand his parents — Goldie and her ex-husband Bill Hudson — better and the decisions they made, saying: "The forgiveness and the compassion that you feel towards them at the end of this process is unbelievable because then you realize that they're only repeating the ship that they went through, you know, with their parents."
Oliver further opened up about how it facilitated him forgiving his father, who split from Goldie in 1982 and who he was long estranged from, sharing: "The forgiveness of my father was huge because his dad left him when he was five years old in the middle of the night, gone. You know, my dad didn't do exactly that, but essentially he bailed, you know, so I can't always help but think when we're parenting, like what am I imprinting upon [my kids]."