There are some things we don’t like to talk about simply because they’re too painful and Jennifer Hudson certainly has a part of her life which she rarely discusses in public. Hudson, in a recent interview, opened up about the murders of her mother, brother and nephew. She also revealed how the birth of her son, a year after the 2008 murders, helped her get through her grief.

Jennifer HudsonJennifer Hudson at a New York and Soho Jeans launch event in July 2015.

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Hudson’s former brother-in-law, William Balfour, murdered Hudson’s mother, brother and nephew in October 2008. According to reports in The Guardian, Balfour was estranged from his wife, Hudson’s sister Julia, and carried out the murders as ‘revenge’ for Julia spurning his advances. On the day of the murders, Hudson’s mother and brother were discovered dead of gunshot wounds at their family home in Chicago. The body of Julia’s 7-year-old son was discovered three days later in an abandoned truck. Balfour was tried for the murders in 2012 and was sentenced to life imprisonment. 

"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," Hudson revealed in the interview with Glamour. "I tell David [her 6-year-old son] all the time, 'You saved my life.'?"

Hudson also revealed that she finds it difficult to discuss her loss with people who have not lost anyone themselves.

"It's frustrating as hell to me to have somebody who ain't lost nothing try to talk to me about it," Hudson said. "I want to say, 'Don't even bother, because you know nothing.' But you never know how much you can get through until you're going through it."

This is not the first time Hudson has discussed the murders. In an interview with The Guardian in 2014, Hudson stated that she had seen the “highest of the highs and the lowest of the lows” since the murders in 2008. She also explained how she had relied on her faith to see her through the times which can only be described as the “lowest of the lows”.

“[Faith] was the ultimate help to me,” Hudson revealed. “We always said: ‘If He brings you to it, He will bring you through it.’ There would be no point in faith if it wasn’t tested. My mother always told me no matter how negative your life seems to be, you must always look for a positive. That is what I believe a woman of faith should do.”

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