Hudson's Family Kept Her Grounded

Even as she rose to fame and fortune, Jennifer Hudson never forgot her family. “One reason my dreams have been able to come true is because of the people in my life,” she said last year. “They’ve always believed in me.” Now, just as her career is reaching its peak, that sustaining force has been stripped away with the double murder of her mother and brother, the Chicago Tribune reports.

These had been heady times for Hudson. Her single “Spotlight” is top on Billboard’s Hot R&B/Hip-Hop chart, she just got engaged, and she has a new movie opening, after winning an Oscar for Dreamgirls in 2007. “She’s the same Jennifer,” her mother remarked after that Oscar win, saying the star comes home to Chicago whenever she can. “When I’m in Chicago, my life is normal,” Hudson said last month. “Family is everything.” (More crime stories.)