Jennifer Hudson on Why She Determined to Host a Daytime Speak Present

Jennifer Hudson didn’t win “American Idol” 18 years in the past — she got here in seventh place. However it didn’t matter: She was quickly destined for an incredible, award-winning profession. The celebrity turned the primary and solely “Idol” alum to win an appearing Oscar, nabbing the perfect supporting actress trophy in 2007 for her stellar flip in “Dreamgirls.” Quick-forward to 2022 and Hudson is now an EGOT, having additionally received a Tony Award, Grammy and Daytime Emmy alongside the best way. Now, she’s including one other credit score to her prolonged resume: speak present host.

Hudson will debut “The Jennifer Hudson Show” on Sept. 12, which additionally occurs to be the star’s birthday. However why a chat present?

“I come from a really talkative household. Oh my God, we love speaking,” Hudson tells Selection. “I’ve been so blessed to take action many issues in my profession…I need to assist another person have a platform.”

Hudson says music can be closely included into “The Jennifer Hudson Present,” which is able to welcome authentic “Idol” decide Simon Cowell, Mickey Guyton, Magic Johnson and Viola Davis as a few of its first visitors throughout its premiere week.

“The Jennifer Hudson Present” can be helmed by the producing team behind “The Ellen DeGeneres Present,” and even shoots out of the identical studio on the Warner Bros. lot the place DeGeneres taped her speak present for 19 seasons.

In tackling speak, Hudson is working with a well-known face. The manager who first found Hudson on “American Idol” is now behind her upcoming speak present: Mike Darnell, now president of Warner Bros. Unscripted Tv, was accountable for all actuality programming at Fox when “Idol” was in its heyday. Years later, when “Ellen” (which Darnell oversaw for Warner Bros.) was wrapping up, Darnell zeroed in on Hudson as the proper candidate to launch a brand new talker.

“I’ve recognized her clearly for a really very long time. I knew her character. I knew she had the authenticity and was a quick learner,” Darnell tells Selection. When he first met with Hudson over Zoom to debate the potential of a chat present, Darnell says he discovered her to be the identical particular person she was so a few years in the past.

“Nobody I’ve recognized in my profession went from a actuality present to a film set after which received in Oscar,” he marvels. “I imply, while you simply take into consideration that, she went from seventh place on ‘Idol’ to the star of ‘Dreamgirls’ after which received in Oscar for it. That’s extraordinary.”

Apart from her expertise, the manager thought Hudson had the chops to hold her personal speak present due to her authenticity and life expertise. “She’s the been via so much in her life, so she has so much to speak about with folks – unimaginable highs and unimaginable lows,” Darnell says.

Hudson will grow to be the second “Idol” alum to entrance her personal speak present, following Kelly Clarkson, whose “The Kelly Clarkson Show” enters its fourth season subsequent week.

Hudson additionally joins a rising rank of ladies of coloration who’re dominating daytime from Tamron Corridor to Sherri Shepherd — who launches her personal speak present, “Sherri,” on the identical day as Hudson subsequent week.

“I do know I’m in nice firm and I’m so pleased with them and excited to take this journey on the similar time,” Hudson says of her fellow feminine speak present hosts.

Hudson additionally provides that Corridor impressed her years in the past, with out even understanding. Earlier than Corridor turned a staple on the “At present” present after which launched her personal Emmy-winning speak present (now in its fourth season), she was a star anchor at Chicago’s Fox station WFLD.

“Tamron Corridor was the host on Fox Information Chicago after I was on ‘American Idol,’” Hudson remembers. “I swear I might go to Fox Information Chicago each week, to the purpose I felt just like the anchor particular person. So, that was a part of the inspiration, and she or he was part of that.”

One other lady within the daytime area who has impressed Hudson is “The View” host Whoopi Goldberg. Hudson says they’re making historical past collectively because the “solely two African American girls” to have achieved EGOT standing, plus “we’re additionally the one two speak present hosts which have EGOTs.”

Hudson admits it hasn’t set in but that she’s achieved that rarified awards standing. Recalling the Tony awards earlier this summer, when she received for producing the Broadway musical “A Unusual Loop,” Hudson shares, “I heard them chanting ‘EGOT! EGOT!’ And I’m like, ‘Huh? Oh my God. Which means I simply received an EGOT.’ … I’m nonetheless processing that, and I would like to know what it means, what it represents.”

Moreover Goldberg, Hudson counts Oprah and Jenny Jones as different speak present internet hosting vets that she admired on tv. “Speak reveals are an enormous a part of our tradition, an enormous a part of our houses,” Hudson says. “Rising up, watching my mother watch ‘Oprah,’ after which ‘The View,’ all of those reveals, even again to Jenny Jones. I’m from Chicago, so I used to look at Jenny Jones on TV.”

Now, Hudson hopes to make the same affect on viewers once they tune into her present.

“I need them to really feel like they’ve a spot to return to have a good time, to flee, to have enjoyable, for consolation, for peace, no matter you want is true right here on ‘The Jennifer Hudson Present,’ proper right here on this sofa,” Hudson says. “Woman, even when you want one thing to eat, I acquired you!”

Watch Selection’s full interview with Jennifer Hudson above.