Even though Hudson bought the house as a retreat from her and Robinson's peripatetic life, she admits that they spend only a fraction of their time there. The couple also rent a town house in downtown Manhattan, but most often they're traveling. The day after this interview, they hit the road for an ongoing Black Crowes reunion tour. Afterward, Hudson planned a quick jaunt to New York to promote Skeleton Key, then a brief stop in L.A. before heading out for more concerts. Hudson seems totally at ease amid all the flux, and she is devoted to touring with her husband.
“I kind of feel like I live vicariously through him,” she says, adding the unexpected comment that her lifestyle on the road with Robinson is “more [who I am] than what I do for a living.” It's the one subject she won't elaborate on, saying that her private life on tour with Robinson is “something in my life that nobody will ever really know.”
The couple has been together for almost six years now. They married on New Year's Eve 2000, just nine months after meeting in New York. “My mom always said I was the little girl who would jump in the deep end when I didn't know how to swim,” says Hudson. “That's kind of how I got married. I jumped in the deep end and figured he wouldn't let me drown. And he hasn't yet.”
The starlet—rock star marriage may seem like a combustible pairing—and, in fact, rumors circulated last year that the marriage was in trouble—but Hudson says that what she and Robinson experience are the expected ups and downs.
“We're pretty well suited for each other,” she says. “We're not perfect. I don't think any relationship is perfect, but we appreciate each other and respect each other. Your greatest hope and desire is that you're with someone for the rest of your life. Is it possible? I don't know. But even if, God forbid, we didn't make it, he'd always make me laugh. It's a beautiful thing.”
At the end of the interview, Hudson heads upstairs to finish her house tour with a visit to her bedroom. But before she gets there, she stops at the wainscotted landing atop the stairs and points out Robinson's collection of vintage rock photographs. Surrounded by images of Jimi Hendrix and the Rolling Stones at their apex is a more recent snapshot, one of Hudson and Robinson on tour, stretched out in the back of a limo in all their bohemian finery. They're both laughing.
