Jennifer Hudson’s new book, “I Got This: How I Changed My Ways and Lost What Weighed Me Down,” focuses on her recent weight loss and fitness struggles. She went on the Today Show promoting the new book saying she wishes to inspire others so they can say “I can do this”. The singer narrates the journey from her humble beginnings in Chicago, to her rise to fame and International success. A selection from the book:
Introduction
“Jennifer! Over here!”
“Jennifer, look this way.”
“Jennifer, Jennifer.”
“Over here!”
“No, over here!”
“Jennifer, turn to the right!”
I always dreamed of someday walking the red carpet in Hollywood. Let’s be real. It’s fun. Everyone there is shouting out your name just to get a glimpse of what you’re wearing. The press asks you to pose, wave, and smile as they snap photo after photo, with flashes popping so bright you can hardly see. It’s a moment in time a girl feels truly beautiful. And on this particular night, I thought I was looking fierce.
It was one of my first red-carpet events. I was a contestant on American Idol, and was living my dream of singing for millions of people on the highest-rated show on television. I was a long way from singing in church and talent shows on the South Side of Chicago. I was excited, taking in the red-carpet finery for the first time. I felt on top of the world.
“Jennifer, are you insecure about being a ‘big girl’ in Hollywood?”
That is, until that question.
Oh, hell no. She didn’t just ask me that.
But she did.
It took me a minute to figure out who the reporter was actually talking to.
Who, me? I thought. Insecure?
Surely, she wasn’t addressing me that way. I had the height of a supermodel, breasts that were naturally big and real, and a God-given shape. Why would I feel insecure about that? I looked around hoping to spot another Jennifer—an insecure “big girl, but there wasn’t anyone else there.
Nope.
Just me.
Like Randy Jackson said to me after my American Idol audition:
“Welcome to Hollywood, girl!”
PROLOGUE of I Got This by Jennifer Hudson © 2012. Reprinted with permission of Dutton, a member of Penguin Group U.S.A.
