What "American Idol" singer, Grammy- and Oscar-winner Jennifer Hudson lost when she dropped 80 lbs., she gained in sheer positivity. But it took being pregnant for her to realize she could take charge of her own body.
"Being pregnant, you're invaded, you're sharing your body and so you lose that control," she told TODAY's Ann Curry Monday. "That experience let me know that wow, this is my body and I can do what I want to do with it and it can be whatever I want it to be."
Also, she added, she wanted to "set an example for my son" David, now 2.
Hudson was on the show promoting her new book, "I Got This: How I Changed My Ways and Lost What Weighed Me Down," and says the negative feedback she received about that loss came as a surprise: "Inside, you're still the same, but the rest of the world does not see you that way," she said. "Everything is not all good."
But as she noted, the biggest pressures came from her burgeoning Hollywood career. "Image is everything in Hollywood," she said. "Although for myself I always felt it should be talent, and it is talent ... but there's always that in the background saying, 'Oh, image is everything,' and image, image, image, image, but still being stubborn against that, saying 'No, talent, talent, talent.' At least in my book."
And now at age 30 she's lived out many of her original fantasies, Hudson is in the process of creating "new goals and new dreams." But overall, she said, "I just want to be healthy and happy and also, I want to be around for many, many years to come. It's as simple as that."
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