Jennifer Hudson: Called The N-Word While Shooting 'The Secret Life of Bees'

By Jawn Murray, BlackVoices.com

Jennifer Hudson will probably go down in history as the most successful reality show star of all time.

The 27-year-old entertainer won an Oscar for her role as Effie White in 'Dreamgirls,' in addition to trophies from the Golden Globe Awards, Screen Actors Guild Awards, NAACP Image Awards, MTV Movie Awards, BET Awards and more than 20 other recognitions.

Next up for the singer/actress, whose self-titled CD came in at number two on the 'Billboard' Top 200 Albums chart by selling more than 217,720 units after being released on Sept. 30, is her co-starring role in the film, 'The Secret Life of Bees.'

In the movie, based off of the bestselling novel by Sue Monk Kidd, the newly engaged Hudson plays Rosaleen Daise, a woman who faces discrimination for her desire to vote for the very first time.

During our candid interview at the Four Seasons Hotel in Toronto, Hudson talked the importance of this movie with the current political landscape; told me about the major award she still hasn't received; and shared what it was like to sing for Democratic nominee for president, Senator Barack Obama.

I heard that you never received one of the major awards that you won. Which one was it?

I don't know where my BAFTA Award (British Academy of Film and Television Arts) is. I'm so upset because I have all of my awards. I was unable to attend the BAFTA Awards because I had to do Clive Davis' Pre-Grammy event and they were supposed to send my award over, but I never got it. Somebody needs to find my award because I want all my babies.

You are now probably the most successful reality show star of all time! Pretty shocking since you didn't actually win the show you were on.

It is a blessing and I have to give credit to God at the end of the day because it's not me. I'm the same girl from 'American Idol' with the same voice and the same name, but it just wasn't my time or my season. Now it is and that's why I don't take anything lightly. No matter how quick it comes or how many times it comes this is a blessing. This could have been anyone, but it's me so I have to appreciate it for what it is.

Another blessing was getting the call from Barack Obama's camp about singing the National Anthem at the Democratic National Convention. Where were you when you got the call?

I think I was at home when I got the call that Barack wanted me to perform. One of my agents gave me a call and told me that they called and Obama wants you to come in and sing. I was so excited because I want to do anything to support him.

'The Secret Life of Bees' deals with the fact that your character wants to vote. What an important story for people to see with the current election in our country.

When I sang, I had to remove myself emotionally from that because of what I went through to develop Rosaleen and what I learned from that. It would have just been too overwhelming to see because although it's a character, Jennifer is still being beat up because I am trying to go vote. To turn around months later and be singing for a possible African-American president, it made it be more of a value for me to see because that wasn't that long ago. It really wasn't. It was very moving. I'm from Chicago, so it really had deep meaning for me. I'm just glad to be apart of it. I never would have guessed.

How important is it for young people to see this movie and understand the significance of being able to vote?

People our age don't realize what our people went through just to be able to vote and it wasn't always the case. It wasn't that you could just vote when you wanted to or not. You didn't have that option and people gave their lives or went to jail and gave up their freedom just so we could have that right today and now we have – in my mind, he's already the President – a potential African-American president. Are you serious? There are really no words for it.

Did you do a lot of research to prepare for this movie?

The first week of production when we arrived in North Carolina, I had to do so much research and I had all types of footage and DVD's and I was on YouTube and had 'The Chronicles of the Civil Rights Movement.' I went back as far as slavery, that's how deep into it I was. The only image I had of the south was people being lynched and people being beat. You don't want to go to the south with that in your mind. Once I got there, I didn't want to go anywhere. Even then, I didn't even want to be in the room. I felt like I was on a plantation somewhere because that's how far my mind had gone into that time.

I heard that the director Gina Prince-Bythewood really set up some interesting things to help you get in the mindset of your character. Tell me about that.

This was our first outing and Gina called for Dakota [Fanning] and I to meet her at a specific location. I asked if I could know what's going on and she told me 'no, you'll see when you get here.' So we get there and she gave us some money and she gave us a grocery list. She told us, 'I want you to go in the store and I want you to purchase these items.' Then, she looked at me before we went in and she said, 'whatever you do Jennifer, don't hit anyone.' I was wondering why I would hit anyone. We go in the store and Dakota is grabbing items while I get a birthday card that was on the list. All of the clerks were all white. I was like, 'where are your birthday cards?' He was like, 'ugh, they're over there.' He just tossed me off. Queen Dakota had five or six clerks helping her so she didn't even have to make a move. I was like, 'why is she getting all this attention and I'm being treated like this?' I didn't make it to the birthday cards when I initially asked about them so when I got to the batteries, the clerk was like, 'I could have sworn that you had already been to the batteries. Matter of fact, I think you put some batteries in your pockets. You did! Empty your pockets.' I was like, 'are you serious? You can't be serious.' Dakota was like, 'well you didn't ask me to empty my pockets.' He said, 'everyone empty your pockets.' I was like, 'well empty yours.' We decide to get some ice cream so we're looking in the parlor and Dakota's in front of me. We're looking in and the clerk says, 'she can't be in here.' I'm looking behind me like, 'who is she? They're not talking about me.' At the counter, there was this white man who was eating his food. He looks over to the clerk and said, 'can you get this n---r out of here? I'm trying to eat my food.' I instantly was like, 'wait a minute.' The only thing I could hear in my head was Gina telling me not to hit anyone. Of course I'm ready to swing at this point. It turned out to be staged to see how we would react in that time, which even if they were acting or not, it was still a shock. It was hard to take in, but it was just to see how we would react.

People are comparing one of your pivotal scenes in 'The Secret Life of Bees' to one of Oprah Winfrey's infamous scenes from 'The Color Purple.' How do the Oprah comparisons make you feel?

It feels good. It has a sense of power about it and I can't say that I would not have done the same if that had happened to me. I probably would have thrown the cup at him and everything that I could do. That was another exercise that Gina did that she didn't tell me about. Before we got ready to shoot the scene, she went and told the guy that I shot the scene with a little secret and then she said, 'action' and he said, 'n---r' every way possible that it could be said which made me heated and want to do that even more. Who wants to stand there and take that? It made me react even more.

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'The Secret Life of Bees' also stars Queen Latifah, Alicia Keys, Sophie Okonedo, Nate Parker and Tristan Wilds.

The Fox Searchlight feature opens in theaters on Oct. 17.

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Read part one of my exclusive interview with Hudson here: 'Jennifer Hudson: The 'Dreamgirl's' Rise To The Top Still Feels Like A Dream.'