Jennifer Hudson Speaks Out About ‘Ignorant’ Prejudice She Receives Over Her Skin Color
Jennifer Hudson is opening up about the prejudice she still receives from “ignorant” people over her skin color, revealing that some people often assume she shouldn’t be in the first-class cabin on flights and that her house was once mistaken to be owned by her white driver.
Jennifer made the pretty shocking confessions in a recent interview with Cosmopolitan U.K., where she spoke out about the “ignorant” people she still encounters on a day-to-day basis, particularly while she’s traveling.
Hudson, who will not appear on Season 14 of NBC’s The Voice in February and will instead be heading back to the U.K. to appear on the British version of the singing show, revealed that she’s often met with prejudice when she flies.
“There have been several situations where I get on a plane and [the air steward] assumes that I’m [meant to be] in the back of the plane,” Hudson told the magazine, according to the Evening Standard, adding that this kind of thing actually “happens a lot” to her.
“I’m like ‘No, my seat is up there [in first class], thank you,'” she then quipped of how she usually responds to those who assume she’s flying in economy class.
Jennifer — who appears as the February cover star on the cover of the glossy magazine — then recounted another story inside the pages of the British publication, recalling how movers once refused to believe that she was the true homeowner as they were moving a piece of furniture into her home.
“One time, I was having something moved into my house and they wanted to know where to put it,” Jennifer recalled to the outlet in the interview. “I said, ‘There.’ [The removal man] just stood there.”
Hudson revealed that they then asked her driver Charles, who is white, where to put the item in her home.
“Charles said: ‘She said she wanted it right there. You’re talking to the wrong person.'”
But it sounds like Jennifer is learning to rise above the “ignorant” people she encounters.
The star — who confirmed she’d undergone a pretty nasty split with her fiancé of around 10 years, David Otunga, in November — said that she’s beating “all the odds being African American, living in a wealthy neighborhood and being a working mom.”
But while Hudson may be absent from the next season of The Voice in the U.S., the “Trouble” singer revealed just last month that she’s hoping to head back to the American version of the series in the near future after leaving the show in December alongside Miley Cyrus.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QiHPugeUfgA
“I love all these guys. I have had a great time. It has been a lot of fun,” Hudson said in an interview with Parade when asked if she’ll ever back again following The Voice’s Season 13 finale in December.
“I am grateful for the experience and I would love to come back,” Jennifer then added.
The Voice U.K. Series 7 is set to debut on ITV on January 6 with Jennifer, Olly Murs, Tom Jones, and Will.I.Am. Season 14 of The Voice with Blake Shelton, Adam Levine, Alicia Keys, and Kelly Clarkson will premiere on NBC on February 26.
