Kate Hudson has been body shamed, but tries to 'pay no mind' to it: 'We shouldn't care what other people think'

It Figures is Yahoo Life's body image series, delving into the journeys of influential and inspiring figures as they explore what body confidence, body neutrality and self-love mean to them. Read past interviews here.

When it comes to opinions about her body, Kate Hudson has heard it all through her years in the spotlight. The actress has no interest in engaging in any body shaming, however.

“I remember when I gained [weight] having kids. I gained 70-whatever pounds with [my older son] Ryder, and people were like, ‘Whoa!’ and it was on magazines,” the 44-year-old actress tells Yahoo Life. “To me, it was like, I just pay no mind.”

Despite her nonchalant attitude, Hudson takes the harm of comments about body weight and shape seriously. She notably won a libel case against the U.K. edition of the National Enquirer in 2006 after the publication ran a story claiming she was “looking like skin and bones.” As she's gotten older and deeper into the business of Hollywood, she's adopted a perspective that allows her to maintain her own peace.

“As a woman, when you don't care what other people think like, people might think you're full of yourself,” she says. “But that's OK. We shouldn't care what other people think.”

For most people, that's easier said than done. But Hudson explains that she grew up seeing her body in a positive light rather than something negative to pick apart. It's something that her mother, actress Goldie Hawn, ingrained in her. Hudson also credits that outlook to being involved in sports at a young age.

“My relationship to my body was always about how strong I felt. It was never about what my body was looking like, because I was so athletic and because athleticism was so important to me,” she says. “It was about: How am I feeling?”

She even considered a future as a professional soccer player but ultimately decided to follow Hawn and her partner, Kurt Russell, into acting.

“To be an athlete, you're really hard on your body. So, I was either going to go into a place where I was gonna be really hard on my body, or I was going to choose to be gentler and go more to the arts,” she says, noting that being an actress somehow gave her more freedom. “Because the truth is, artists are all different shapes and sizes. We want to be all different shapes and sizes because we're portraying all these different characters.”

The beauty standard that actors are subjected to, she says, is a product of advertising rather than the industry itself. “I think in a true art form, you don't give a f*** what people think.”

Self-care, however, remains a priority of Hudson's, and exercise and nutrition are both a part of that. But again, it's a matter of celebrating her body rather than punishing it, which she embraces in her seven-day “Small Steps” challenge with MyFitnessPal.

“It's hard to make [fitness and nutrition] a part of your lifestyle that continues and continues and continues. You have to find your support, find a place that you can connect to that's easy, that's inexpensive, that gives you the opportunity to actually challenge yourself in little ways and start the new habit,” Hudson explains.

The program is focused on making small, sustainable changes that will contribute to overall health because that's what the mom of three finds most effective and important.

“This is gonna sound very spiritual and not practical, but to me it is the most practical: You have to move with the seasons that you’re in. You have to flow and honor where you're at,” she says. “If my body is saying, ‘You're going to chill out,’ I'm going to listen to that. I'm going to move with and connect to what my body is telling me. I'm going to soften, and I'm going to nurture. And then one day, I'm going to wake up, and I'm going to get an itch, and it's going to be like, ‘Wow, I want to run, I want to sweat.’ It shifts.”

At the end of the day, she leans on one mantra when it comes to her body: “Be curious, not judgmental,” she says. “Take care of yourself first, honor yourself first, check in with yourself. Love your body. Be OK with the fact that you're never going to be perfect.”