Nov. 11--Jennifer Hudson stars on Broadway and in the upcoming movie "Chi-Raq," and now the Chicago native is on the December cover of O, The Oprah Magazine.
Hudson, 34, epitomizes old Hollywood glam as she dons a purple see-through gown for the magazine. The color is fitting since Hudson stars as blues singer Shug Avery in the Broadway adaptation of "The Color Purple," which opened for previews this week.
"I have butterflies taking on this role, but I like that," Hudson told the magazine. "I never second guessed it -- I just hopped right in. She is such a different funky character for me and I was very attached to (the) book and the film."
Hudson, who grew up on the South Side and moved to the Chicago suburbs, is slated to play a woman whose daughter is killed in "Chi-Raq," the Spike Lee satire of Chicago violence that's due in theaters Dec. 4.
That is a familiar role for Hudson, whose mother, brother and nephew were shot to death in Chicago in 2008.
