Jennifer Hudson, the loveable girl-next-door with a powerhouse voice, was enjoying a sensational
rise to fame 10 years ago.
Despite not making the quarterfinals of American Idol in 2004, she still managed to carve out
a promising career.
Hudson even went on to star as Effie in the hit movie Dreamgirls, and won an Oscar for
Best Supporting Actress.
Nothing seemed to stop the Chicago native, and her debut album won a Grammy for Best
R&B album in 2009.
"I always call it a blessing and a curse."
"Yes."
"Because everything has to live up to those expectations of the Oscar, the Grammy, of
a Dreamgirls, of..
And I'm telling you, Jesus, ha.."
However, her fame has faded over the past few years, leading some to wonder how such
a talented performer has could ever not be on the A-list.
Here are a few reasons why her career might've stalled.
From huge hits to massive flops
Fresh from her Oscar-winning performance in Dreamgirls, Hudson went on to star in huge
hits Sex and the City and The Secret Life of Bees.
However, that same year she landed a role in Fragments, a straight-to-DVD flop that
starred Forest Whitaker.
Hudson's next project was the biopic Winnie Mandela, which was hit with controversy when
Winnie herself wanted production on the film shut down.
Hudson's movie career never recovered and after trying her hand with comedy in the critically-panned
The Three Stooges and then appearing in the musical drama Black Nativity.
It seems casting agents started to avoid her declining star power.
The family tragedy that shook the world
In October 2008, while celebrating her debut solo album success, Jennifer Hudson was rocked
by the news her 57-year-old mother Darnell Donerson and her 29-year-old brother Jason
had been murdered at their home in Chicago.
Local and national news outlets reported her 7-year-old nephew Julian King was reported
missing, but was later found dead in an abandoned vehicle.
William Balfour, the estranged husband of Hudson's sister Julia and father of Julian,
was arrested and charged with the murders, and sentenced in 2012 to life imprisonment.
Although none of this was Hudson's fault, the tragic events surrounding her family certainly
changed the narrative about the singer-actress.
It's possible that these terrible crimes may have distracted studios and audiences from
her formidable talents and screen skills.
A whole new role
Jennifer Hudson got engaged to David Otunga, a former pro-wrestler in the WWE, in 2008
and in 2009, she announced the couple was expecting their first child together.
Despite being pregnant, Jennifer continued with her workload and even went on tour with
Robin Thicke in May.
However, she disappointed fans after later cancelling tour dates due to "throat fatigue."
Hudson gave birth to David Junior just two months later in August 2009, and fell off
the celebrity radar by taking time off to focus on being a mother.
Diet diva
Hudson took it easy after the birth of her first child, and rightly so.
However, her failure to land movie roles or release music didn't go unnoticed by Hollywood,
and her fame began to dissipate.
She looked to get back into the limelight by becoming the face of Weight Watchers in
2010, and told Oprah Winfrey she had lost 56 pounds and didn't plan on losing any more.
However, fans were concerned for her well-being after she debuted a very slim figure in February
2011, revealing she had lost a total of 80 pounds.
Losing the musical muscle
Jennifer Hudson released her second album, I Remember Me, in 2011, and it debuted on
the Billboard 200 chart at number two.
However, only one single, "Where You At," was a hit.
Hudson later reinvented herself for her next studio release.
With a new haircut and edgier style, she enlisted the help of Timbaland and Pharrell Williams
for her third album, JHUD in 2014.
Disappointingly, it was a flop, selling a mere 24,000 copies in the first week of its
release — a significantly lower figure than the 165,000 that her previous album had sold
in its first week.
Billboard even suggested her Oscar win in 2009, and her focus on becoming a brand, was
damaging her music career.
Taking the stage
Shaking off her music career failures, Hudson focused on acting.
With her powerful voice and focused determination, it was no surprise when she made her Broadway
debut with a role in the hugely successful revival of The Color Purple in 2015.
However, she later accused the production of casting her just because she was a celebrity,
seemingly affecting her chances of being cast again in a Broadway show.
Hudson went on to carve out a TV career, guest starring in Lee Daniels' TV show Empire in
2015, and later playing Motormouth Maybelle in NBC's Hairspray Live! in 2016.
Time for a turnaround
If anyone can overcome adversity, it's Jennifer Hudson.
"Know that whether you win or not you still have the prize which is your talent and you
can still make it."
And it looks like she's ready to make a real career resurgence now.
She signed to Epic Records in 2016 and plans to release her fourth studio album soon.
She also landed a role opposite Adam Sandler in the Netflix comedy Sandy Wexler.
The former American Idol star has also returned to her talent show roots, becoming a judge
on the U.K. version of The Voice, alongside will.i.am, Tom Jones and Gavin Rossdale.
In other words, her career is still very much in play, even if she's still not quite reaching
greatest hits status at the moment.
Give it time.
"I worked for that, okay?!"
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