Oliver Hudson Details Traumatic Events of His Own Birth: ‘Almost Died’

Oliver Hudson recently relived the scary events surrounding his own birth.

In the Monday, August 11, episode of Hudson’s “Sibling Revelry” podcast, the actor looked back on what happened on his birthday, September 7, 1976.

Hudson, 48, acknowledged that both he and his mom, Goldie Hawn, have spoken about the day “a bunch” before he jumped into the story. “Back in 1976, I guess the idea was, ‘Eh, you know, just the baby’s not ready. Just let it pop out when it pops out,’” Hudson said. “Well, unfortunately, I basically ate s*** and almost died, meaning I’m meconium aspirated.”

He continued, “For those of you who don’t know what that is, we are fed through an umbilical cord, as when we’re in utero. And you gotta take a dump. And that’s exactly what I did. But it’s in the amniotic fluid.”

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The situation created a crisis for the newborn. “Of course, that’s what we breathe when we’re little. And boom, in it goes, deep into my lungs,” Hudson added. “And meconium is a very tarry substance. And I came out, ‘Oh my God, it’s a boy!’ because Mom didn’t know. And boom, I was rushed off into NICU.”

Hudson spent “three weeks or a month” in the neonatal intensive care unit, and the actor said he wonders still if the events of his birth could have caused trauma that persists to this day.

Oliver Hudson Slaven Vlasic/Getty Images

“The question is, does something like that affect you? Your first breath, and in my case, smelled like s***, is being whisked away. Your first moment of life, needles put in your head,” he said. “You’re not near your mother. You have no skin to skin. There is no love there. There’s, you know, you can’t be confused as a kid, but there is, it’s just probably doesn’t feel good.”

Hudson added that he has spoken to “someone in the field of psychology” or “astrologers” who said the trauma surrounding his birth could be the “root of all my problems.”

Hawn previously recounted the experience of Hudson’s birth in a 2017 interview with People. The Butterflies Are Free star told the outlet she prayed for help for her newborn after being escorted to the NICU to visit him soon after his arrival.

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“Oh my God, was he beautiful. Eleven pounds of a hunk of love,” Hawn explained. “I stood up and I just connected to the universe. I put my hand on him, and I asked God, I said, ‘Come through me, use me to heal my son.’”

Her baby’s health began to improve at that moment, Hawn added. “I don’t think there’s any question that prayer can work. I’m a very spiritual person,” she said. “I’m not a religious person, although I was raised Jewish and I like my tribe, but that was a beautiful thing. It was phenomenal. I just emptied myself. I don’t know how to explain it.”