Twenty years after the star was introduced to the world on American Idol, she’s earned some incredible titles: EGOT winner. TV host. Mother. As she begins Season 3 of her hit daytime talk show, Hudson speaks on enjoying the wild ride and the very merry things to come.
By: Victoria Uwumarogie | Photography By: Kanya Iwana
“My entire career is a mind-blowing experience,” says Jennifer Hudson. The star, 43, tells me this as she sits cozily in the middle of the set of her talk show, Warner Bros. Television Group’s The Jennifer Hudson Show, in Burbank, California, called “The Happy Place.” I’ve just reminded the Chicago native that she’s come extraordinarily far from where she started in the industry, competing on American Idol in big curls, with an even bigger personality and voice, 20 years ago as of this year.
God always has a little bit more for you than what you ask for. So, I stay in awe,” she says. “Every time I come out those double doors that say ‘Jennifer Hudson,’ I think: Is this real? Is this really happening? But that’s why I never sleep. Why sleep if you’re busy living your dream?”
What a dream it’s been. Hudson won an Academy Award for playing Effie White in Dreamgirls in 2007. She’s since gone on to join the ranks of Black EGOT winners (to-
date, there have been only nine) and, since 2022, has been the host of her very own syndicated daytime talk show. To be in her third season at a time when such productions can come and go quickly is a significant feat. The program works because Hudson genuinely enjoys doing it.
“I love to hear about other people’s journeys and experiences,” she says. “Those are the things that inspire me and it’s happening more and more and more. Like, I can’t answer the door without somebody telling me their story, and I’m listening, too! When people sit in this chair next to me, I feel like I’m going on their journey by hearing them speak in the interviews, and I’m so intrigued by it.”
A short list of some of Hudson’s favorite guests include Magic Johnson, Smokey Robinson, Dionne Warwick and Sheryl Lee Ralph. “This is the original Dreamgirl I’m sitting here with!” she recalls thinking in the Emmy winner’s presence. “You’re witnessing me have heartfelt, sentimental moments, which I have with all of my guests—but some of them hit differently.” She adds, “We have such a great time. That’s the most exciting part about coming back. This feels like home now.”She also names Mariah Carey as a guest she’s been starstruck by, one she is now lucky enough to call a friend. Hudson had the chance to collaborate with the Queen of Christmas on the remake of her track “Oh Santa!” in 2020 (which also featured Ariana Grande). Some of that holiday spirit has stayed with the star, who is now preparing to release her very own Christmas album, The Gift of Love, on October 18. But Hudson says she’s always been a holiday stan, something she bonded with Carey over. So, while this is her first Christmas album, she says there’s much more to come.
“It’s something I wanted to do throughout my entire career. I am a holiday fanatic, and I am glad I can share my joy with everybody now through music,” she says. “When I was growing up, I used to recreate ‘Oh Holy Night.’ Every year, I would find a new arrangement and give it to my family members as a gift. They were probably sick of my ‘Oh Holy Nights,’ but that’s my favorite holiday song. And so now to be able to have The Gift of Love and share it with the world, but with songs more than just ‘Oh, Holy Night,’ but it’s on there! I cannot wait. It’s been Christmas all year for me.
Hudson has plenty to look forward to this fall, from dropping the holiday album to filming a bevy of new episodes of The Jennifer Hudson Show. Amid all that, she’s still a hands-on parent. The only thing that’s changed is that her son, David Otunga, Jr., is not a baby anymore. He is now “towering” over her, she says, and he just turned 15. “Each phase of raising a kid is different from the last. So, it’s like, Okay, how do you need me now?” she says.“How do I parent you now with where you are right now? So, we’re finding a new norm, and I’m preparing him for what’s to come.”
She’s teaching him how to be as independent as possible ahead of college, or whatever his plans will inevitably be, and is confident in what she’s taught him in the first 15 years of his life. Still, Hudson is like every mother, catching herself staring at her now teenager in astonishment.
“He went to sleep in the room, took a nap with his mohawk, and when I tell you he came out, had a whole new nose, and shot up. I was like, ‘Where did my child go? Who is this?’ That’s how quickly it happens,” she says. “I’m just taking it in and being the mommy he needs right now—or praying to be.”
As her relationship with her son transforms, she shares that all the pouring into and protecting has minimized some, so some of that attention now goes back to her. When asked what she does to pour back into herself, Hudson says it’s all about the simple things that remind her she deserves some of the time she doles out to everything and everyone else.
“When I wake up in the morning, what’s going to make me smile today? What is it that my person needs today? You know what I mean? Not boss lady, mama, and all the other titles in the world. The first check-in is, Okay, how am I feeling today? And then, what would be that one thing if I can’t do nothin’ else in this busy day, what is the one thing I can do that I can say I did for me? And you know, one of the things is fixing my bed. Can’t leave it a mess. The least I should be able to do is make sure I fix my bed before I walk out this door or before this day starts. Why? Because that’s something for me.”
She adds, “For me, it could be the simplest thing of bike riding. I have my son and all his friends. I’m like, ‘Listen, I’m going to ride my bike, and I’m going to need y’all to figure out how y’all are going to get to Walter’s house? Okay? Y’all old enough, but this is something I’ve been wanting to do, and I’m going to take this bike ride.’ So, whatever that is for you, make that time for you to be able to do it, even when it’s the busiest of days. Do that one little simple thing for yourself.”
If Hudson didn’t find time to care for herself, allowing her to feel and be her best, she couldn’t have reached this place in her career. She couldn’t have become an EGOT winner with all four major American performing arts awards on her shelf, a “Happy Place” set on a studio lot that she now calls home, three studio albums, and a fourth to come, without loving every bit of what she does. That includes the not-so-pretty parts.
“It is the fruits of the labor, the hard work. And it takes a long time in this industry to get to a place where you can do what you want. Oh, baby, I’m there. ‘I ain’t doing that.’ You have to earn that right,” Hudson says. “But what’s gotten me here is doing it for the love—and
realizing that everything ain’t gon’ be Dreamgirls.”
She continues, “When you realize that in your career and you do it for the passion and the love, you can continue on. It’s going to be ups, it’s going to be downs, it’s going to be great things when we break records, and it’s going to be tough things too, but you can’t allow the tough things to stop you just because you’re not breaking records all the time. That’s not a career.
“I feel like not being discouraged by the roller coaster of it all got me here. I always say I hopped on that American Idol roller coaster, and it’s been going ever since,” Hudson adds. “A lot of people tend to just focus on success or everything needing to always just be that, but that’s not life. The longevity comes in when you really can ride that roller coaster and be able to say, I’ve been in the game 20 years. Maybe the ride can break some people, but I’m not the kind that gets discouraged. I do this because I love it.”
The Jennifer Hudson Show airs on weekdays. Check your local listings.