Heated Rivalry‘s Hudson Williams defended his dad after making some shocking revelations about how his father was “very irresponsible.”
Throughout an interview with Males’s Well being, which was printed on Thursday, January 15, Williams, 24, recalled that his father tried to get him into weight coaching at age 6.
“My dad at all times saved me within the fitness center since I used to be like, 6,” the actor famous. “There’s, like, movies of him attempting to place weights in my hand — which appears very irresponsible.”
Williams had blended opinions on the selections his dad made when he was rising up, including, “But it surely’s additionally the man who left me alone with lighters and, like, plastic bottles. So it’s not out of character.”
Regardless of the surprising admission, Williams stated his dad was a “nice father” to him.
“I didn’t imply to tarnish his character,” he added. “However, yeah, I’ve been within the fitness center for a very long time.”
Williams has provided perception into his relationship along with his dad since turning into a family identify following the success of his Crave sequence, Heated Rivalry. He opened up about referring to his character Shane — who’s autistic — due to the similarities to his father.
Connor Storrie and Hudson Williams Sabrina Lantos/HBO Max
“After studying the scripts — even earlier than the guide — I instantly noticed how he would function,” Williams informed The Hollywood Reporter in December 2025. “My dad is on the spectrum, he is aware of it. He’s a mechanical engineer, graduated high of his class, first at school in every thing, very technical genius in a number of methods, however kind of socially … I feel he would say that he doesn’t wish to take care of feelings.”
Williams continued: “He has informed me, I’m not even paraphrasing, ‘I relate extra with Vulcan than human’ referencing the Star Trek, the hyper-cerebral alien creatures. I really like my dad to loss of life, and I’ve at all times felt very linked to him. He has a sensitivity to him that may be very boyish. I feel once I learn the script, I took an enormous web page out of residing my life with him. Rachel [Reid] has stated [Shane] is autistic, so I feel I knew the way it ought to look. I empathized with him quite a bit, instantly.”
Primarily based on Rachel Reid’s Sport Changers guide sequence, Heated Rivalry follows rival skilled hockey gamers Shane Hollander (Williams) and Ilya Rozanov (Connor Storrie), whose animosity on the ice is only a entrance for a secret — and really passionate — romance.
Following the season 1 finale, Heated Rivalry turned the top-rated non-animated acquired sequence on HBO Max since its 2020 launch. It is usually among the many high 5 of all scripted debuts on HBO Max this yr. On Crave, in the meantime, it has change into essentially the most watched unique present in Canada.
Heated Rivalry has since been renewed for a second season — with Williams and Storrie, 25, planning to reprise their roles.
“[For the role] hockey gamers don’t normally look that jacked, and the remainder are sort of simply, like, wiry robust, or they appear to be they drink beer robust. However then I used to be asking Yana Grebenyuk Jacob [Tierney], like, ‘What ought to I appear to be?’ He was like, ‘It’s best to appear to be to be pasta,’” Williams informed Males’s Well being about his physique for the present. “And I used to be like, ‘I don’t know. I’m seeing these different guys within the present, they usually appear to be underwear fashions.’”
He added: “And as quickly as I noticed Connor Storrie, I simply determined to not eat carbs and attempt to get as huge as attainable. I wanna get greater, juicier, thicker — I wanna get some greater legs. I wanna get some big-ass shoulders. I wanna placed on 10 kilos of muscle. Until a roll is like, you must be skinny. Then I’ll get skinny. And I received’t eat.”
