Jennifer Hudson Talks About Her Reality With Gun Violence


Jennifer Hudson recently opened up about the gruesome murder of her family while talking about the rampant gun violence that’s going on in America over the last several years.

According to E!, Jennifer Hudson opened up to W magazine while promoting her new film, Chi-Raq. In the film, directed by legendary visionary Spike Lee, Hudson plays a mother whose daughter is killed at the hands of a gun. Hudson can very obviously relate to this kind of material given her own personal history. That said, Hudson was hesitant to take on the role considering how close this was to home for the singer and Academy Award winning actress, “Yeah, of course. It’s like, you’re asking a lot.”

“This is reality for me. This is my life. A part of my life.”

In 2008, Hudson’s mother, brother, and nephew were gunned down by Hudson’s estranged brother-in-law, William Balfour, in Chicago’s West Side. In the end, Balfour was charged with seven counts and sentenced to a total of three life sentences with no parole.

Hudson continued to open up about how she took on the role because the murders were a significant act that changed her whole world.

“I definitely had that moment of like, ‘Are you serious?’ But when I really thought about it, I understood why he came to me and I thought, ‘You know what? It’s worth me telling my story so that hopefully no one else has a story like this to tell.’ The film we’re doing is trying to save my city, as my mother said, take care of home. So for that reason I was like, ‘Okay, I get it, it’s worth doing.’ But I don’t think it’s anything I will ever, ever revisit again.”

This isn’t the first time Jennifer Hudson opened up about the death of several members of her family. As the Inquisitr reported, Hudson told Glamour Magazine that the birth of her son in 2009 helped her heal, and she reconciled the deaths of her mother, brother, and nephew. Although Hudson seems as if she’s in a truly better place since the death of most of her family, she still has moments where she worries that something is going to happen to her son.

Due to this worry, she constantly tells her son that he cannot play with toy guns outside because it’s not safe for him. After the controversy over the fatal police shooting of 12-year-old Tamir Rice, who was playing with a toy gun when he was killed, many parents are concerned about their children playing in public with toy guns.

“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. I tell David all the time, ‘You saved my life.'”

She’s also told her son David that even though racism does exist in America, there are prominent African-Americans doing amazing things in society. “I’ve started by telling him some of the world’s greatest people—leaders and athletes—are black people.”

Speaking about Chi-Raq, she said how the issues feed an important platform in cinema.

“If we didn’t have these issues, I don’t think a movie like that would have needed to be made. That’s the point of making it, to make people pay attention and say, ‘Guys, we have to start somewhere.’ And it’s not just the city of Chicago. It’s everywhere.”

Gun violence and mass shootings have been on everyone’s mind lately. In 2015 alone, there have been several high profile mass murders, fueling the ongoing battle between those who support the right of law abiding citizens to own guns, and those who favor strict gun control or gun bans. The anti-gun faction blames guns, while 2nd Amendment advocates claim that inadequate mental health services and gun-free zones in vital public areas that are terrorist targets are to blame. Sadly, even in nations where guns were completely banned, criminals and terrorists still manage to find weapons and harm innocent human beings.

[Photo by Kevork Djansezian/Getty Images]

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