Oliver Hudson often felt "unprotected" growing up with mum Goldie Hawn.

Oliver Hudson has opened up about his early childhood years with mum Goldie Hawn

Oliver Hudson has opened up about his early childhood years with mum Goldie Hawn

The 47-year-old actor and his younger sister Kate Hudson, 44, were born during Goldie's marriage to musician Bill Hudson but they divorced in 1980 and the actress raised the kids as a single mum before settling down with longtime partner Kurt Russell and Oliver has now admitted those early years were full of "trauma".

During an appearance on his 'Sibling Rivalry' podcast, Oliver explained: "My mother was the one that I had almost the most trauma about, interestingly enough, because she was my primary caregiver and I was with her all of the time, so I felt unprotected at times.

"She would be working. She had new boyfriends that I didn't really like ...

"This is my own perception as a child who didn't have a dad and needed her to be there. And she just wasn't [there] sometimes and she came out far more than even my dad who wasn't there."

However, Oliver insisted Goldie was just "living her life" and was an "amazing mother" to him.

The 'Scream Queens' star was seven when Goldie found love with Kurt and he was able to experience a more settled family life, and he admits he has since forgiven his biological dad Bill for not being around.

Oliver - who has three children with his wife Erinn Bartlett - went on to say: "The forgiveness and the compassion that you feel towards them [my parents] 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.

"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]."