CHICAGO — Actress and musician Jennifer Hudson, who stars in Spike Lee's upcoming movie "Chi-Raq," discussed her career and personal challenges in a profile that aired on CBS Sunday Morning this week.
The profile followed the Oscar and Grammy-winning performer to Pleasant Gift Missionary Baptist Church in Bronzeville, where she sang with the church's choir as a young girl. Hudson, who grew up in Englewood, said the church was the first place she ever sang publicly.
The feature follows her path to celebrity from the third season of American Idol in 2004 to the movie "Dreamgirls" in 2006, in which she starred alongside Beyonce and Jamie Foxx.
Hudson also told interviewer Anthony Mason about the 2008 murder of her mother, brother and nephew and the trial that followed, which she called "the toughest thing ever."
"It's too much ... when it's more than one person, you don't know who to grieve for first, or how," Hudson said. "I remember God came to me right when everything happened ... and he said, 'I want you to get up and keep going.'"
The profile also briefly touches on Hudson's role in Spike Lee's "Chi-raq," in which she plays the mother of a girl who was shot to death. While she doesn't discuss the role at length, the segment includes a clip of Lee praising her involvement on the film's set.
Another focus of the interview was Hudson's upcoming role in a Broadway production of "The Color Purple" premiering Dec. 10. It will be her first theatrical role since she performed on a Disney Cruise more than a decade ago, according to the segment.
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