Kate Hudson has "forgiven" her estranged father.

Kate Hudson

Kate Hudson

The 37-year-old actress hasn't spoken to her biological dad Bill Hudson - who publicly disowned her and her brother Oliver last year - for several years, and though she doesn't "understand" why he left their family, she insists she bears no ill will towards him.

She said: "[His] issues ... are just something that he has to live with, and that must be painful for him. I forgive him.

"[There'll always be an] inability for me to understand my father.

"Forgiveness in any aspect of something that is complex is the greatest tool."

Though the 'Almost Famous' star is "sad" that she has no relationship with her biological father, she claims their division has made her a stronger person.

Asked by DJ Howard Stern if she speaks to Bill, she said: "I don't. It is very sad ... I have a very thick skin because of it."

And Kate - who has sons Ryder, 12, with ex-husband Chris Robinson, and Bingham, five, with former fiance Matt Bellamy - is thankful to have had her mother Goldie Hawn's long-term partner Kurt Russell in her life for the last 33 years.

She said: "When you have a father like Kurt, who has sort of been there for the hard stuff ... He's not a perfect man.

"But the trust that I got from him in terms of his dependability was priceless for me."

Kate stars opposite Kurt in new movie 'Deepwater Horizon' and really enjoyed working with him.

She said: "As much of a fan as I am and as much as I admire him as an actor I am able to separate it. They hired us, or asked if we would do it, it was sort of simultaneous and I always wondered like, did it even hit them ... because usually people [make the connection] with mom, my mom is Goldie [Hawn] you know and it was really fun for us to be in a working environment together."