Hudson: Dead Brother's Voice Pushed Me to Sing Again

She heard voices of mom, brother in her head
By Evann Gastaldo,  Newser Staff
Posted Dec 30, 2011 10:59 AM CST
Jennifer Hudson: Dead Brother's Voice Pushed Me to Sing Again
Jennifer Hudson attends VH1 Divas Celebrates Soul at Hammerstein Ballroom on December 18, 2011 in New York City.   (Getty Images)

How was Jennifer Hudson able to make a comeback, singing the national anthem at the 2009 Super Bowl just months after her mother, brother, and nephew were murdered? Those family members played a part, she explains to Dateline in an interview airing Jan. 8. "I felt as though I had to," Hudson says in a preview obtained by the Huffington Post. "Again, just the same as I hear my mother's voice in my head, I can hear my brother's voice in my head. And he—they, like, everybody, it's like, is she ever gonna sing again? Is she gonna—you know?"

"And what was I gonna say to that? I could hear him, like, 'Jennifer—' he would always say, 'Knock it off, Jenny,' if I was cryin' about somethin' or if I was upset, discouraged, mad, 'Jenny, knock it off.' That's what I hear in my head," she continues. "And it's like, 'OK, well, what they want me to do? I can either just sit here and mope around, or do what I know that would make them proud.' And that's what I did." Click to see why Hudson credits her fiancé with saving her life. (More Jennifer Hudson stories.)

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