What can you say about Jennifer Hudson?
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Well, she’s an EGOT winner, that’s a good start.
What’s more, she recently played Aretha Franklin in the biopic, RESPECT, which portrayed Franklin’s life, and, well, she knocked it out of the park. Hard to do, given Franklin may be the best singer of all time. But Hudson is that talented.
The Emmy and Grammy and Oscar and Tony Award-winner has a voice for the ages. She’s a star of the small and silver screens and she also just recently launched her own daytime television talk show.
But what does the 41-year-old, Chicago-born Hudson have to say about life, love, the world at large, her craft, and more outside of her roles as a performer and entertainer?
Here we’ll dive into just that. These are the 30 best Jennifer Hudson quotes.
1. “Don’t block your blessings. Don’t let doubt stop you from getting where you want to be.”
2. “I always say, you never know how much your parents loved you until you have a child to love.”
3. “Family makes a house a home.”
4. “I’m prouder of my weight loss than my Oscar!”
5. “You’re not living if you don’t go out and try things for yourself.”
6. “Chocolate is what I love. I have it every day.”
7. “I used to sing in the church choir. People would say it was unusual for such a small girl to have such a big voice. They would say, ‘She sounds like she’s grown.'”
8. “What people need to know is that if you don’t eat what you want, then you’ll just continue to eat, because you’re not fulfilled.”
9. “When you hear my music and you feel the emotion, it’s real. When you see me in a film and you see a tear, it’s real.”
10. “I didn’t start singing with my eyes open until I was 19—that’s how shy I was!”
11. “I feel like I’ve lived about three or four different lives.”
12. “The church has given me balance.
13. “Even though I am extremely blessed to have accomplished many of my goals at such a young age, I am still reaching, still striving.
14. “I didn’t even know I was considered plus-size until I was on the red carpet here in L.A. one day and a lady said, ‘How do you feel about being a plus-sized girl in Hollywood?’ I was like, ‘What’s she talking about?’
15. “To me, the biggest notes and the longest notes are the easiest notes.”
16. “My biggest thing is banana pudding, but it’s the devil! So no one is allowed to bring it into my house. Because I can’t control myself. So why put it in my domain?”
17. “I try to do everything to say, ‘OK, will my mother like this? Will she be pleased? Will she be proud of that? How do I know she’s happy and she’s smiling down at me from heaven?’ And that’s what I try to go by and walk by.”
18. “I’m just not a shoe girl.”
19. “Going jogging makes me feel powerful and free—like Rocky!”
20. “Traditional values are big in my life.”
21. “I once had a crush on one of my teachers. I wrote him a love letter and stuck it in a bag in his office. I didn’t write my name on it, but I’m sure he figured out it was me.”
22. “I actually stopped working out because I don’t want to lose my jelly.”
23. “I’m really not sure what people think or expect me to be, but I am surprised when people say, ‘You’re not supposed to be like that… ‘ I’m not exactly sure what ‘that’ is, so I choose to take it as a compliment.”
24. “My grandmother always taught me, ‘If you don’t have a home, family, and church, you don’t have anything.'”
25. “I accept any challenge.”
26. “I love being nurturing and caring because I love to see other people happy.”
27. “Music is my home.”
28. “I like to have songs with me that have substance. That’s missing from a lot of today’s music. You might hear a song with a catchy beat, but what’s it about? It’s not empowering or helping anyone.”
29. “Dreams do come true. If anyone’s proof of that, it’s me.”
30. “I’ve always had a love for making things my own.”
Photo by Dimitrios Kambouris/Getty Images for Tony Awards Productions
