No matter how many times US Weekly insists that 'Stars ' They're Just Like Us!', most of us can't help but be a bit skeptical. I mean, when's the last time anyone you know had diamond dust brushed over their face to prevent wrinkles ' la Britney Spears' Or currently employs a P.U.H. (Personal Umbrella Handler) to protect them from the strenuous duty that is holding an umbrella when it rains, like P.Diddy' More often than not, it seems like stars are absolutely nothing like us at all.

However, Kate Hudson has always seemed to be the exception to this rule. Although her parents are Hollywood royalty, to Hudson, Goldie Hawn and stepfather Kurt Russell are just her parents ' Go-Go and Go-Gi, respectively. (Hudson considers Russell her father and does not have a relationship with biological father Bill Hudson). As we spoke to Hudson about everything from her four-month old son, Ryder Russell Robinson, to her husband, musician Chris Robinson, to her new film, Raising Helen, directed by Gary Marshall, she sprinkles the conversation with 'you knows' and infectious laughter, proving herself perhaps the most easy-going of the talented young twenty-something actors working today.

In fact, Hudson is so approachable, that one even feels comfortable talking to her about a subject that, for most new mothers in Hollywood, is completely untouchable ' her weight gain during her pregnancy. Unlike most stars, Hudson actually gained a considerable amount of weight' wagging more than a few tongues and receiving some snarky headlines in magazines, well, like Us Weekly. However, Hudson is so relaxed, she's even willing to reveal the exact amount of weight that she gained ' all 60 pounds of it. 'It was great. I kinda figured, why do I need to watch my weigh when I'm pregnant' I'm gonna eat whatever the hell I wanna eat!' she exclaims.

One would naturally wonder what the pressure was like to lose it all, considering Hollywood unfortunately isn't known for being too accepting of women of all sizes and shapes. Again, Hudson talks about it with casual aplomb. 'I had to shoot this movie I'm doing now'in three months. I'm okay being big, it felt like everybody else was more worried about it than I was. I just knew that when I started shooting I didn't want to get two months into it and then all of a sudden drop my weigh drastically.' After working out with a personal trainer for two-to-three hours a day for two and a half months, Hudson is back to her old weight ' almost. 'I still got a bit to go,' she says, but insists she was featured in magazines regardless of her weight. 'I had a baby, there's nothing to be ashamed of,' she says somewhat defiantly.

Hudson's personal and professional life seem to be running parallel, as her new film, Raising Helen, is about the struggles of motherhood. The film brought her together with Gary Marshall, whom she met while her parents were shooting the film Overboard with the director. 'He was so memorable as a kid and Overboard was such a family set,' she says about the 1987 film. 'It was almost like this movie.' Working with Marshall at such a different time in her life, from being a child to thinking about having one, affected Hudson. 'When I read the script, it was obviously something that hit home for me,' she says. 'I was at a time where I was thinking about having kids, so it kind of fit in perfectly to my mindset at the time.'

Of course, things are a bit different for Hudson than for her character in the film, a successful, hip modeling agent who suddenly finds herself the guardian of her late sister's three children and has to reconcile her two worlds. Hudson says that she and her husband, Chris Robinson, were ready to have children. 'I think it's the best we've ever felt being together,' she says. 'Finding time to be alone is hard, but we've been alone for four years.' While her real-life man certainly has an interesting profession as a musician both as a solo artist and lead singer of the band The Black Crowes, her love-interest in 'Raising Helen' has an even more'unusual career. When Hudson was surprised she'd be romancing a pastor, but was excited when she found out who would be playing Dan Parker. 'When I found out it was John Corbett I was pretty happy about it. He is a sexy Man of God,' she jokes.

Interestingly, Hudson is happy that she was not already a mother while filming Raising Helen. 'I've seen this movie about a hundred times now and I just saw it again for the first time since I've had the baby,' Hudson says. 'I'm so happy I wasn't a mom when I made it because it would have been a different character.' Hudson says that having Ryder changed her perspective of the film. 'It was so much more emotional for me as a mother than it was when I saw it when I was pregnant.'

Hudson says that her parents were a big influence on her, and she looks to them on how she and her husband will raise Ryder. 'They're my role models as a parent. I can only hope that when Ryder and the next kids come they like me as much as I like my mom.' A particularly memorable moment for her was when she first introduced her newborn son to her father. 'I'remember being rolled out of the surgery room right after I had him and I looked up at my Pa and I said, 'Did you meet Ryder Russell'''

Which, of course, leads to the question of that name. While not as wildly odd, as say, Apple (thank you, Gwyneth) or Pilot Inspektor (right-o, Jason Lee), Ryder Russell is certainly an interesting name. The Russell part is for her father Kurt, but where did Ryder come from' Hudson explains that they came up with it while she was eight-months pregnant and on tour with her husband. 'Every night he ended his show with a song called 'Ride' and Ryder would go insane in my stomach every time,' she explains. 'I said wouldn't it be funny if we called him Ride, but we're Dead fans and 'I Know You Rider' is one of our favorite songs and they also played that. And he never stopped moving so it just kinda fit perfectly.'

Despite her laid-back demeanor, Hudson must have some big plans for Ryder's future, right' 'I want Ryder to be anything he wants to be as long as he does it 120 percent and I'll be a very happy mom,' she says. Anyway, she already has a sneaking suspicion that he will be the one watching out for her and Robinson. 'I almost feel like Ryder is going to kind of discipline us,' she says, half-joking about her and her husband's hippie reputation. 'Chris and I have this thing like, Ryder's going to be like, 'Oooh, are you going to your tepee guys' It's not the 60's anymore, you know'' Already, she says, they are living a gypsy lifestyle, which she wonders how her son will react to. 'We travel so much'We live out of a suitcase ' he's either going to hate us or love us for it.'

And where does Hudson get the idea that Ryder is going to be so unlike her and her husband' 'He's a very serious boy,' she says. 'He came out and his eyes were wide open, and the doctor just went whoa'He was just looking around. And I know this is going to sound really crazy, but I'm going to say it anyway,' she says, for the first time sounding a bit weary of her candidness. 'This generation of babies I find are very alert and serious,' she says. 'I found out that it's the Indigo babies. More so than ever, they're so alert early on.'

For the first time, Hudson sounds a tiny bit like the self-indulgent movie star, talking about god-knows-what.

'Indigo babies'' someone asks her.

'Well, I'm a Crystal baby,' she explains.

Then, in the most self-deprecating, un-movie-starish way, she exclaims, 'Oh, it's New Age-y, crazy stuff!' and then laughs, 'But I believe in it!'

Willing to take a shot at herself' She's just like Us, indeed.