Zachary Hudson, who goes by Zak, is the son of actress Cindy Williams, best known as Shirley on Laverne & Shirley, and musician Bill Hudson of The Hudson Brothers. That makes him the half-brother of actors Kate and Oliver Hudson. He has stayed out of the spotlight for his whole adult life, which is why the public record about him personally is short. This guide covers what reliable sources confirm, puts his family in context so the headlines make sense, and separates him from other people who share his name.
Zachary Hudson at a Glance
| Detail | What reliable sources say |
|---|---|
| Full name | William Zachary Hudson, known as Zak or Zachary |
| Born | 1986, according to multiple entertainment outlets |
| Mother | Cindy Williams (1947–2023), star of Laverne & Shirley |
| Father | Bill Hudson, singer with The Hudson Brothers |
| Full sibling | Emily Hudson, born in 1982 |
| Half-siblings | Kate Hudson, Oliver Hudson and Lalania Hudson |
| Work | Reported to be a musician; no verified credits found |
| Public profile | Very private; no verified interviews found |
Who Is Zachary Hudson?
Zachary Hudson is the younger of the two children of Cindy Williams and Bill Hudson. Biographical listings give his full name as William Zachary Hudson, and most entertainment coverage says he was born in 1986. His sister Emily was born four years earlier, in 1982, the year their parents married.
The marriage lasted until 2000. Encyclopedia.com’s biographical entry lists the wedding as May 1, 1982, and the divorce as December 13, 2000, which means Zak was around 14 when his parents separated and Emily was about 18. Both children grew up in the shadow of two famous families: their mother was one of the most recognizable sitcom actors of the 1970s and early 1980s, and their father had been married to Goldie Hawn before her.
That family connection is the reason most people search for him. He is the half-brother of Kate Hudson, the Oscar-nominated star of Almost Famous, and of her brother Oliver Hudson, the actor. But Zak himself has not pursued an acting career. We found no film or television credits, no verified interviews and no official social media accounts attached to his name.
Which Zachary Hudson is this page about?
The name is common, and search results mix several people together. This page is about the son of Cindy Williams and Bill Hudson. If you were looking for someone else, the section near the end on other people named Zachary Hudson points you in the right direction.
His Mother, Cindy Williams
Cindy Williams, born Cynthia Jane Williams on August 22, 1947, was an American actress widely recognized for portraying Shirley Feeney, initially on Happy Days and later on its spin-off, Laverne & Shirley. & Shirley, which ran on ABC from 1976 to 1983. She played the optimistic Shirley opposite Penny Marshall’s Laverne, and the show became one of the most-watched series on American television by its third season, according to Variety’s obituary.
Before gaining recognition through sitcoms, she had established herself in film. She appeared in George Lucas’s American Graffiti (1973), earning a BAFTA nomination for her performance, followed by a role in Francis Ford Coppola’s The Conversation (1974). Both films were later included in the Library of Congress’s National Film Registry, according to her IMDb biography. Williams returned to her American Graffiti role in More American Graffiti (1979) and released her memoir, Shirley, I Jest!, in 2015.
Her son’s story is tied to a famous career decision. Williams left Laverne & Shirley in 1982, when she was pregnant with Emily. Being a working mother in the public eye was part of the family’s story, and she spoke about it in interviews over the years.
Williams passed away at her Los Angeles home on January 25, 2023, aged 75, following a short illness. Her children announced the news to the Associated Press through a family spokesperson five days later. PBS NewsHour carried the AP report. In that statement, Zak and Emily called her kind and hilarious and said they were proud of her lifelong mission to rescue animals, her artistry, her faith and her ability to make the world laugh.
His Father, Bill Hudson
Bill Hudson is a singer, songwriter, and actor known for performing with The Hudson Brothers, a pop trio he formed alongside his younger brothers, Brett and Mark. According to Wikipedia’s profile of Bill Hudson, he is the eldest of the three. The group had two Top 40 singles in the 1970s: “So You Are a Star” reached number 21 in 1974 and “Rendezvous” reached number 26 in 1975, as listed in his IMDb biography. They also sang backup on David Cassidy albums and hosted their own television variety programs.
His first marriage was to Goldie Hawn. The two married in 1976 and had two children, Oliver and Kate, before splitting. Sources disagree on the exact end date of the marriage: some say 1980, while IMDb lists the divorce as finalized in March 1982. Hawn then began her long relationship with Kurt Russell, who raised Oliver and Kate.
Bill married Cindy Williams on May 1, 1982, only weeks after his divorce from Hawn was finalized. Together they had Emily and Zak. After that marriage ended in 2000, he had a daughter, Lalania, born in the mid-2000s, with another partner, according to entertainment outlets. By his own count in a 2015 interview, he had five children in total.
Bill Hudson’s relationships with his children have made headlines more than his music has in recent years, and that is where Zak’s family story becomes most public.
Zak Hudson’s Siblings and the Blended Hudson Family
The Hudson family tree is easy to confuse because it crosses several marriages. Here is how the pieces fit together:
| Person | Relationship to Zak | Connection |
|---|---|---|
| Emily Hudson | Full sister | Daughter of Cindy Williams and Bill Hudson, born in 1982 |
| Kate Hudson | Half-sister | Daughter of Bill Hudson and Goldie Hawn; actress |
| Oliver Hudson | Half-brother | Son of Bill Hudson and Goldie Hawn; actor |
| Lalania Hudson | Half-sister | Daughter of Bill Hudson, born in the mid-2000s |
One source of confusion is Wyatt Russell. He is Kate and Oliver’s half-brother on their mother’s side, through Goldie Hawn and Kurt Russell, and he is not related to Zak by blood.
Kate and Oliver grew up in a household that looked very different from Zak’s. They were raised by Hawn and Russell, whom both have called their father figure in public. Zak and Emily were raised by two parents in show business, and their parents’ marriage lasted until Zak was about 14.
For readers who like family-focused profiles of people better known through a relative, our pieces on Henry Olyphant and Corrie Bird follow the same fact-first approach: what the record confirms, and nothing more.
The Estrangement and the Reconnection
Most of what the public knows about Zak’s family comes from a long-running rift between Bill Hudson and his two oldest children. It reached its low point in 2015, when Oliver Hudson posted a Father’s Day message on Instagram that called the day “abandonment day.” Bill responded in an interview with the Daily Mail, reported by Fox News, saying he had disowned Oliver and Kate and that they were “dead to me.” He also said that he now considered himself the father of three, a count that includes Emily, Zak and Lalania.
Over the following years the tone softened. In early 2023, Kate said on her podcast Sibling Revelry with Oliver that she had been asking herself why she did not speak to her other siblings, and that she and Oliver had begun communicating with one of their half-sisters again, as Hollywood Life reported. Entertainment outlets widely assumed she meant Emily. Zak was not named in that account.
In a later interview on CBS Sunday Morning, covered by Fox News, Kate said she was “warming up” to a relationship with her father and praised the Hudson Brothers’ songwriting.
Tabloids also claimed that Cindy Williams’s death in January 2023 pushed Kate and Oliver to reach out to Zak and Emily with condolences. That report comes from an anonymous source quoted by Radar Online and repeated by MEAWW, and we could not confirm it from a named person. We mention it because readers ask about it, not because it is established fact.
What can be said safely is this: the family has been reconnecting in stages, Zak’s own role in that process has not been described on the record, and he has not publicly commented on any of it.
Zak Hudson’s Own Life: Music, Privacy and His Mother’s Passing
Zak Hudson is the quiet member of a very visible family. Several entertainment sites describe him as a musician, and an interview with his father in 2024, as relayed by smaller outlets, reportedly said he works in music. We could not trace that to a primary source, and we found no verified album credits, songwriting listings or performances under his name. For that reason we describe the career as reported, not confirmed.
What is clearly documented is his role as a family spokesperson at the most painful moment. When Cindy Williams died in January 2023, he and Emily issued a joint statement through a family representative. NBC’s Today published it in full: it called their mother one of a kind, generous and funny, and it noted her animal rescue work, her art, her faith and her ability to make people laugh. The statement ended by thanking the public for loving her. That is one of the few times Zak has addressed the public at all.
Beyond that, the picture is of a man who values privacy. We found no verified interviews with him, no confirmed social media accounts and no reliable reporting on his relationships, home or finances. Sites that list a spouse, a net worth or a detailed career history do not name a source, so we have left those details out. That also protects a private person from the kind of speculation his famous relatives have attracted for decades.
If that changes, for example if he publishes music or speaks publicly, we will update this page.
What Is Not Known, and Other People Named Zachary Hudson
Several basic facts about Zak are not on the public record: his exact birthday, where he lives, whether he has a spouse or children, and what he does day to day. Anything presented as certain on those points should be treated as a guess.
Searching his name also surfaces other people, which is a common source of mistakes:
| Zachary Hudson | Who he is | Source |
|---|---|---|
| Zach Hudson (1972–2022) | A Hollywood stunt performer who doubled for more than 40 actors, including in Spider-Man, and died in December 2022 | IMDb |
| Zachary M. Hudson | A professor of chemistry at the University of British Columbia | Hudson Lab |
| Zachary Hudson (fictional) | A president in the space game Elite Dangerous | Fandom wiki |
None of these is related to Cindy Williams or Bill Hudson as far as the sources show. If you are researching the stuntman, the professor or a LinkedIn profile that carries the same name, those links are the right starting points.
For more profiles that separate fact from guesswork, browse the Celebrities section or start from the Athens Magazine homepage.
Frequently Asked Questions
Who is Zachary Hudson?
He is the son of actress Cindy Williams and musician Bill Hudson, and the half-brother of actors Kate and Oliver Hudson. He lives a private life and is not a public figure in his own right.
Who are Zak Hudson’s parents?
His mother was Cindy Williams (1947–2023), known for Laverne & Shirley and American Graffiti. His father is Bill Hudson of The Hudson Brothers. They were married from 1982 to 2000.
Is Zak Hudson related to Kate Hudson?
Yes. They share a father, Bill Hudson, so Kate and Oliver are his half-siblings.
How many siblings does Zak Hudson have?
One full sister, Emily, and three half-siblings: Kate, Oliver and Lalania.
How old is Zak Hudson?
Most entertainment coverage says he was born in 1986, which would make him about 40. His exact birthday has not been confirmed by a reliable source.
Is Zak Hudson an actor?
We found no acting credits under his name. He is reported to work in music, but that is not independently verified.
What did Zak Hudson say when his mother died?
He and Emily issued a joint statement in January 2023 calling their mother kind and hilarious and thanking the public for loving her.
Is Zak Hudson married or does he have children?
No reliable source says. Pages that give a spouse or children do not cite where the information came from.
What is Zak Hudson’s net worth?
There is no verified figure. Any number you see online is an estimate without a source.
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