Los Angeles - Actress Kate Hudson knows what it is like to be on the receiving end of intense tabloid scrutiny.

'They do a story about how you were at a place that you weren't at, and say you were flirting with somebody you don't know. That's what I get every week,' says the 29-year-old star of the wedding comedy Bride Wars, which sneaks in cinemas islandwide today. The movie, also starring Anne Hathaway, opens next Thursday.

'And you're like, 'Well, I wasn't there, and I don't know this person.' But whatever.' she says, shrugging.

'I have a lot of male friends. One is like my son's uncle. We went to dinner and he became 'a mystery man' that I was dating. We had such a laugh. Someday people will recognise that girls have male friends,' she says.

The gossip writers also played up a supposed spat between her and co-star Anne Hathaway.

'They say we're fighting each other. We would laugh because it was crazy,' she says, adding that the two are actually good friends.

But she will concede that they are very different. The friendly and relaxed actress says Hathaway's fashion style is 'eccentric'.

'She is into all kinds of music, she's got an eccentric little style. She's the mod and I am the hippie. She comes in with striped socks and a beret and I am in some paisley pattern dress,' she says.

At a press interview to promote the movie in the Casa Del Mar hotel in Los Angeles recently, the actress was dressed much more stylishly than the average hippie, layering a short Sophia Kokosalaki jacket over a Roberto Cavalli dress.

The actress, who has a five-year-old son, Ryder, from her marriage to Black Crowes singer Chris Robinson, 42, divorced in 2007 after seven years of marriage.

Since then, her love life has come under tabloid scrutiny as she has been spotted with actors Owen Wilson and Dax Shepard as well as cyclist Lance Armstrong.

These days, she says she spends time with a close-knit circle of female friends whose support helped her through her divorce. Women helping one another through difficult times is a theme found in her latest movie.

'It's so important to have people in your life who are going to tell you the truth and who aren't going to scold you when you don't listen to them,' she says.

Since her Oscar-nominated breakthough role as groupie Penny Lane in Almost Famous (2000), the daughter of actress Goldie Hawn and actor Bill Hudson has been playing lead roles in a string of romantic comedies, such as How To Lose A Guy In 10 Days (2003), Le Divorce (2003) and My Best Friend's Girl (2008).

In this latest outing, however, she has taken on a producer role as well and says she enjoys the perks.

'Now I understand why guys like casting women so much. I was casting all the boys and I was like... hmm,' she says, making a flirtatious expression.

'But I prefer being on the creative side of things. Producing is really a tough job,' she says, adding that being both an actor under director Gary Winick and overseeing the business side was a 'challenge'.

In that respect, she differs from her character Liv, a hard-nosed lawyer and a tough negotiator who is best friends with Hathaway's Emma, an unassuming teacher. The two women share the same dream: a June wedding at New York's Plaza Hotel. So both are ecstatic when they both land June wedding dates at the Plaza, thanks to their high-powered wedding planner, Marion (Candice Bergen). But due to a clerical error, both weddings are booked for the same day. The best chums soon become battling bridezillas.

Hudson admits she is nothing like Liv in real life: 'I was so happy to get out of those tight pencil skirts. Liv is like one of my friends who is in a hair salon all the time. We would go to the lake country and swim. I would jump in the water and she would dip her toe in because jumping in would frizz her hair. That, to me, was Liv - she has had the same haircut since 10th grade, always one length, always straight.'

Her own style is much freer, she says.

'My mum would look at me and ask: 'What are you wearing? You are like a crazy person.' I would put on piles of jewellery and layers and scarves and walk out of the house and people are like...' she says, making an expression of disbelief.

Unlike Liv, she never dreamt of a June white wedding at the Plaza Hotel.

'My dreams were about dancing and singing on Broadway. I just wanted to be on stage. I would see girls playing Cosette in Les Miserables and I'd go, 'Oh, I want to sing that song'. That made me excited about getting older.'

• Bride Wars sneaks in cinemas here today and opens next Thursday.

This article was first published in The Straits Times on Jan 23, 2009.