Jennifer Hudson on ‘Dreamgirls,’ Tom Cruise Interview and New Music
Jennifer Hudson is changing.
Her transformation might not be as dramatic as the one Effie White sings about in the second act of “Dreamgirls,” but the EGOT winner is beginning what she describes as her “next chapter.”
It all started in Salt Lake City, on the final stop of her 16-city summer tour with Josh Groban. During her set, Hudson would let fans vote on a song for her to perform. Selections ranged from her “Dreamgirls” showstopper “And I Am Telling You I’m Not Going” and her R&B hit “Spotlight” to her renditions of Aretha Franklin’s “Respect” and “(You Make Me Feel Like) A Natural Woman.” But as Hudson sat backstage on that July 3 evening, she decided to buck tradition. “I was like, ‘Can I sing this one for me?’” Hudson asked her team.
Ramona Rosales for Variety
She chose “Invisible,” a lesser-known song from her self-titled 2008 debut album. In the power ballad’s chorus, Hudson sings, “And now I’m gonna live my life for me, ’cause this ain’t how it’s supposed to be. No more standing in the back of the line, ’cause I’m invisible for the last time.” She hadn’t performed the song in years, but as she belted out the lyrics, something shifted within her. “I got emotional in the midst of it,” Hudson says. “The song is nearly 20 years old, but it hit different, as the children say. And I can’t wait to sing it again.”
Hudson and I have been chatting in a cabana on a sunny Los Angeles rooftop for about an hour, discussing the journey from her shocking elimination on the third season of “American Idol” in 2004 — she came in seventh place — to winning an Oscar for her acting debut in “Dreamgirls” in 2007 and all that came after. “God always has so much more in store than what you could ever imagine for yourself,” Hudson says, grinning as a gold stud that reads “EGOT” gleams in the inner corner of her right ear.
God clearly likes full circles: In April, Hudson returned to “Idol” as a guest judge, moved to tears as one contestant performed “The Circle of Life,” which Hudson also sang on the show. She’s also producing the Broadway revival of “Dreamgirls,” sitting in on auditions as the creative team searches for the next actress whose life will change by playing Effie. Then she’s got her talk show, “The Jennifer Hudson Show,” which has earned 18 Daytime Emmy nominations since its launch in 2022. This year, she got her first solo nomination for outstanding daytime talk series host.
“This is the chapter of …” Hudson begins, hesitating, “putting myself first. I’m almost an empty nester, and I’m like, ‘Wow, I’m fixing to get a lot of time back. What am I gonna do with that time? How do you put that into yourself?’ I’ve been disciplined. I’ve crossed every t, dotted every i, and it’s like, but what does it feel like if you take up more space for yourself?”
I confess that I, too, am a recovering people-pleaser, but I’m learning that I’m the people I need to please. Hudson gasps. “I’m writing that down,” she says, grabbing her phone and tapping on the screen with her long, purple fingernails. (Her lock screen is a picture of her 17-year-old son, David Otunga Jr., surprising her with a Mother’s Day bouquet on the set of the talk show.) When she’s finished typing, she shares her mantra: “It’s my turn now,” she says, adding, “When we’re always pleasing everyone else, it’s like sitting at a stop sign and you’re letting the other cars go ahead of you. That means we’re stuck in the same place. Something’s gotta give.”
And in moments when that analogy doesn’t hit hard enough, she recalls a line of dialogue she delivered while portraying Franklin in the 2021 biopic “Respect”: “I do what I want to do. I sing what I want to sing. I go where I want to go.” (Franklin handpicked Hudson for the role shortly before she died in 2019.)
It’s something that’s been top of mind for Hudson while in the studio working on material for a new untitled album. The music is inspired by her romantic partner, fellow Oscar-winning musician Common, and her son, a gifted musician in his own right. While Hudson is perhaps best known for adding her flavor to anthems made famous by other people, she’s now focused on writing about what’s in her heart.
“I only write when I have something I really want to say, and it’s my time for my voice,” she says. She’s reminded of something she learned in the making of “Respect”: “Carole King and Aretha Franklin both told me, ‘Use your voice.’ That has never left me. And when I use my voice this time, it’s going to be with my words.”
Hudson is a woman of faith, which she credits for her success. “I feel like the greatest gift my mother [Darnell Donerson] and my grandmother [Julia Kate Hudson] gave us was making sure that faith was deeply embedded in us and a part of our lives,” Hudson says. “My mother used to be very quiet in her life, but once she passed, not a day goes by that I don’t say, ‘My mama used to say … ’” (Donerson was murdered in 2008 in a tragic event that also claimed the lives of Hudson’s brother, Jason, and her 7-year-old nephew, Julian.)
As a spiritual person, Hudson was quick to pick up on the synchronicities that kept popping up in her life during this “singing summer.” One of the first stops on the tour with Groban was Toronto, where Hudson spent a few weeks training to perform on a Disney cruise line when she was 21. A couple of weeks later, she and Groban were in Atlanta, where, in 2003, she auditioned for “Idol” with Franklin’s “Share Your Love With Me.” Then, in June, she brought first lady Michelle Obama to tears while performing “The Star-Spangled Banner” and “The Impossible Dream” at the grand opening of the Obama Presidential Center in their shared hometown of Chicago.
A few weeks after that, Hudson shed a few tears of her own when singing at Clive Davis’ funeral. Hudson’s voice rarely falters, but she could hardly make it through her medley of Leonard Cohen’s “Hallelujah” and Whitney Houston’s signature version of “I Will Always Love You.” That emotional performance mirrored the 2012 Grammys, when Hudson was called on to sing that ballad the night after Houston died of an accidental drowning.
The intensity of that moment at the Grammys can’t be overstated; after all, Hudson idolized Houston when she was a kid growing up on the South Side. (“When I was 7, I was like, ‘I want to win a Grammy, and I want to be a singer like Whitney Houston,’” she says, smiling as she thinks of young Jenny Kate.) So how’d she get through it? “My mama used to always say, ‘Jenny, you work really well under pressure.’”
Not every performance this summer had Hudson looking back; some forecast what is to come. For instance, in July, Hudson sang the national anthem at the World Cup Final in New York. Afterward, she ran into Tom Cruise, and mid-conversation, she decided to take her shot at booking him on the talk show, even though the megastar doesn’t do many sit-down interviews anymore.
“I was like, ‘Tom, could you imagine your Spirit Tunnel? What do you think they’re going to sing for you?’” Hudson says, referring to the pre-show segment where her staff lines a hallway at Warner Bros.’ Studio 1 and sings a well-chosen song to welcome each celebrity guest to the stage.
The staff started performing this ritual in the early days of the show to hype Hudson up for each taping. “And then I was like, ‘Shouldn’t we do this for the guests?’” she says. Today, clips of the Spirit Tunnel — featuring Zendaya, Obama, Aaron Pierre, Gwen Stefani and more getting their groove on — go viral regularly.
Turns out that Cruise was aware of the Spirit Tunnel, and he said yes to the idea so fast “it made my head spin,” Hudson says, adding, “He’s like, ‘I watch the show, Jennifer. I watch everything. I watched you on ‘American Idol.’”
Hudson isn’t particularly nervous about interviewing Cruise. (The interview will air on Sept. 30.) After taping more than 100 episodes, she has discovered her superpower as a TV host: It’s her experience having been on the other side. “Because I get to be around a lot of celebrities outside of the limelight, I want the audience to see they’re human,” she says.
It’s a chance for people to get to know the real Jenny too — the talkative, bighearted person behind the powerhouse voice. “A huge reason why I wanted to do this is so I could be me,” she says.
Which makes sense since striving for authenticity is what leads Hudson to strike the right chord when she’s performing. “What comes from the heart reaches the heart,” she explains. “What’s real resonates. If you don’t put meaning behind it, then it’s just a demo of right notes.”
Courtesy of the Jennifer Hudson Foundation
Charity Spotlight: Jennifer Hudson Foundation
For the past 20 years, Jennifer Hudson has supported youth programs in her hometown of Chicago, but last year, she launched her eponymous foundation to expand that philanthropic reach nationwide and give her more flexibility to jump in where needed.
“I love the babies,” Hudson says. “Anything I could do to invest in the kids, I’m all for.”
Naturally, supporting youth music and arts programs in underserved communities is a priority. “Music helped make the difference in my life,” she says, adding that she funded a children’s choir so that kids could participate in choral competitions like the ones she loved growing up. “Those teachings prepared me for what I do today.”
Another aspect of the foundation mirrors her talk show segment “Everyday Heroes,” which spotlights people who strive to make a difference — from teachers and coaches to bus drivers, nurses and foster parents. “What annoys me is when people think the only talents and gifts are singing, dancing or something musical,” she says. “I love to say to people, ‘This is your superpower. What you do is special.’ It doesn’t have to be glamorous or in the lights.’”
Hudson credits her late grandmother, Julia Kate Hudson, with teaching her the importance of taking care of others. “She had a heart of gold, honey,” Hudson says. “We’re givers in our family. My brother, Jason, used to feed the whole neighborhood. I just like making a difference in the world.”
