They’re both award-winning actresses, moms and beloved Hollywood stars but there’s so much more to Goldie Hawn and Kate Hudson. For starters, the duo’s incredible mother-daughter relationship has proved to be unbreakable and, according to a source close to Goldie, 73, and Kate, 39, the two women are “truly connected.”

Last year, when Kate found out she was expecting her third child, the How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days star told Goldie her exciting news first. “Goldie loves being a grandmother. She went over to Kate’s house and they were both happy and crying. They are truly connected,” the friend exclusively told Closer Weekly in the magazine’s latest issue, on newsstands now.

See a Complete Guide to Goldie Hawn and Kurt Russell’s Blended Family!

Goldie welcomed Kate, her only daughter, with ex-husband Bill Hudson in 1979. The actress is additionally a mom to Oliver Hudson, 42, with Bill and Wyatt Russell, 32, with longtime love Kurt Russell and a stepmom to Boston Russell, 38, whom Kurt welcomed with ex-wife Season Hubley.

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Though she’s an involved mom and grandmother-of-six today, the insider revealed to Closer that Goldie regrets that she wasn’t more available for her kids during their childhoods. “Goldie wished she’d spent more quality time with the kids when they were young. She was so into her movie career that she’d be gone for long periods of time. The children were often raised by nannies,” the friend said.

To make up for that, Goldie eventually began taking her children along with her to her movie sets. “They were international travelers by the time they hit puberty,” the source added.

Today, The First Wives Club star couldn’t be closer to her daughter Kate — who is a mom to Ryder Robinson, 15, Bingham Hawn Bellamy, 7, and Rani Rose Hudson Fujikawa, 3 months — and is so thankful for their special relationship. “As we grow older together, I can’t express the amount of love, joy, laughter and sadness we share,” Goldie has said. “She understands me, I understand her. We’re girls. We share everything.”

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“We call each other and we can cry together. It’s a different relationship [with a daughter]. We can cry on each other’s shoulder and laugh in each other’s faces,” Goldie added. Kate couldn’t agree more. “My mom is my great confidante! I pretty much tell her everything. Look, unfortunately, or fortunately, our family is very open. There’s some things we don’t want to necessarily know about each other, but everything is just out on the table in our family,” the Fabletics founder has said.

Kate once revealed that the two often “meet in the morning, have coffee and chat” and their conversations are usually about family and friends, not Hollywood. “It’s mother-daughter, not mother-business,” Goldie has said of their time together.

“It sounds cheesy, but my favorite thing about my mom is her smell. I feel like I can smell her right now, you know? There’s this smell about my mom that I love — and her laugh. Those are my top two,” Kate gushed about Goldie.

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In addition to her mom, Kate has a strong bond with her father-figure, Kurt, 67, whom Goldie has been dating for more than 35 years. “Family values are everything. I think that’s the glue. Kurt would also say that through everything [he and Goldie] always continued to figure out how to have fun,” Kate has said of her parents’ romance.

Through all of life’s ups and downs, Goldie is just so grateful to have a best friend in her daughter, Kate. “She’s the greatest. And you know what, we mothers earn that. We need to learn when to let our children go at a certain time in life, we can’t be overbearing, we can’t tell them what to do, we don’t own them, we can only love them. I think that works,” she has said.

For more on Goldie and Kate, pick up the latest issue of Closer Weekly, on newsstands now — and be sure to sign up for our newsletter for more exclusive news!

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