Jennifer Hudson

Jennifer Hudson has scored her first leading role since winning the Best Supporting Actress Oscar for Dreamgirls in 2007. She will be playing Winnie Mandela, Nelson Mandela's controversial ex-wife.

Winnie campaigned for her husband's release for twenty-seven years, but they separated in 1992.

Michael Jackson’s gold casket was covered with red flowers and was wheeled out through the 20,000-strong audience and positioned in front of the stage, as a choir sang Soon And Very Soon in an emotional scene at the Staples Center.

The ceremony got under way about 10 minutes after the scheduled 10am start time as mourners waited for the hearse carrying Jackson’s coffin to arrive from the nearby Forest Lawn Cemetery where there was a private ceremony for family.

Ticketless fans have been warned to stay away from Michael Jackson's star-studded memorial service amid fears of riots.

Los Angeles police have urged people not to head to the Staples Center in the city's downtown area for tomorrow's event unless they are guaranteed entry.

Authorities fear that up to one million fans will descend on the city.

More than 1.6 million people entered a lottery to get tickets, but only 17,500 were successful.

Despite trying to keep the news hush-hush, friends and family threw Jennifer Hudson, 27, a baby shower over the weekend in Chicago to celebrate  the expected arrival of her first child.

She is engaged to boyfriend David Otunga, who you may remember from VH1’s I Love New York. And who is now pursuing a pro-wrestling career. Really? Good luck with that.

Reports claim the Grammy-winning actress is seven months along. 

With everything that gal has been through, she deserves all the happiness in the world.

Congrats to the mom to be!

Wow.

How did Jennifer Hudson manage to get a camel toe in diaper pants? That takes skill.

J-Hud, pleats are not your friend.

—Sasha Perl-Raver

Tyler Perry has written a film for Jennifer Hudson and he’s willing to wait until she’s ready to make the project come to life.

Jennifer’s mother, brother and nephew were murdered last October and she stepped away from performing while dealing with unimaginable grief. Now Perry is hoping she’ll be willing to return to acting after she completes an upcoming tour with Robin Thicke.

“I just wrote a movie for her that I’m really excited about,” Perry says. 

Halle Berry was snapped entering the NAACP Image Awards, held last night at the Shrine Auditorium in LA, wearing one of the four gowns she donned as part of her hosting duties, which she shared with Tyler Perry.

Damn, Gina!

Berry, who gave birth to her daughter, Nahla, less than a year ago, and gets to go home every night to smokeshow baby daddy Gabriel Aubry, was an absolute vision. Some girls have all the luck.

Jennifer Hudson and Robin Thicke are teaming up to co-headline a five week American tour kicking off in Philadelphia on April 2nd and ending in Houston on May 8th.

A Grammy and a tour, her mama must be smiling down from heaven with tremendous pride.

–Sasha Perl-Raver

Last night’s Grammys was a mix of good (T.I. and JT bringing all that baby daddy goodness to one performance), the bad (when is Katy Perry’s fifteen minutes of one-hit wonderfulness going to be up?) and the ugly (Natalie Cole, we need to talk).

U2 kicks things off with “Get On Your Boots” accompanied by a jumbotron with their lyrics. “It’s Karaoke. Alright!” our friend Natalie enthuses. We lack her keenness. The Edge is still jamming but the boys aren’t in Joshua Tree anymore. They’re starting to really show their age.

We told you yesterday, we were a little disappointed to discover that J-Hud was pulling an Ashlee Simpson during the National anthem on Sunday. 

Then, this morning, we were awakened by an email from our dear friend Jennifer who told us that, like Jennifer Hudson, pre-crack Whitney Houston lip-synced her legendary performance at the 1991 Super Bowl too.