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Jennifer Hudson won an Oscar in 2007 for Dreamgirls. But that’s not her proudest moment.
“I’m prouder of my weight loss than my Oscar!” the former American Idol contestant tells September’s Self magazine (via People.com). Through Weight Watchers (for which she is a spokeswoman) and exercise, she dropped 80 pounds and went from a size 16 to 6.
PHOTOS: 2011 Oscars Red Carpet
She wasn’t aware she was overweight when her career was just starting out.
“I didn’t even know I was considered plus-sized until I came to Hollywood,” she says. “I thought I was the perfect size!”
But her self image changed when she was on a red carpet and a “an interviewer asked, ‘How does it feel to be plus-sized in Hollywood?’ I looked around, like, Who is she talking to? Oh, me? I’m plus-sized? In the neighborhood I’m from in Chicago, a 16 is normal. But in Hollywood, everyone looks exactly the same, so I stood out.”
She decided to lose weight when she was pregnant with her now 2-year-old son (with husband David Otunga).
“I thought, hold on – why doesn’t anybody know I’m pregnant?” she says. “And I wanted to set a good example for my son.”
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