Jennifer Hudson rarely talks about the tragic loss she suffered in 2008 when her mother, brother and nephew were shot and killed by her sister’s estranged husband. But during a recent interview with Glamour Magazine, the 34-year-old spoke about how she was able to move forward.
In the upcoming Spike Lee film Chiraq, Hudson portrays a Chicago woman whose daughter was killed by a stray bullet, and Hudson said it was not hard to relate to the character.
“It’s frustrating as hell to me to have somebody who ain’t lost nothing try to talk to me about it,” Hudson said of her feelings of loss. “I want to say, ‘Don’t even bother, because you know nothing.’ But you never know how much you can get through until you’re going through it.”
Hudson went on to say that it was her now-6-year-old son, David, who she gave birth to one year after her loss, who got her through it all.
“I went from being an aunt, having a mom and being a child to not having a mom, becoming a mom, and raising my own child,” Hudson said.
She then added, “I tell David all the time, ‘You saved my life.'”