Jennifer Hudson says staying true to herself and staying healthy come ahead of any movie role.
In a preview of her new memoir posted by Uptown Magazine, the actress and singer says she turned down a shot at the lead role in “Precious” — you know, the film nominated for a slew of Academy Awards in 2009 — because she didn’t want to gain weight for it.
But she doesn’t see it as a loss. Hudson explains why she passed on the opportunity in her new book, “I Got This: How I Changed My Ways and Lost What Weighed Me Down.”
Hudson had packed on the pounds once before, to play Effie in “Dreamgirls,” a role that landed her an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress. But when director Lee Daniels approached her about the lead role in “Precious,” Hudson wasn’t willing to play yo-yo with her weight again.
“As much as I was moved by this film, I wanted to try a role that had nothing whatsoever to do with my weight,” she writes in her book.
Hudson went on to play Carrie Bradshaw’s personal assistant in “Sex and the City: The Movie,” and continued to drop the pounds. Since the start of her career on “American Idol” Hudson’s lost 80 pounds with the help of Weight Watchers (she’s a spokesperson).
