Jennifer Hudson opens up about parenting her Black son

When Jennifer Hudson isn’t spending time interviewing celebrities on her talk show, The Jennifer Hudson Show, she’s busy with parenting duties as mom to her teenage son, David Otunga Jr.

In a cover story for Real Simple, Hudson opened up about what it’s like raising a Black boy in today’s America. 

“My son goes to a predominantly white school, and he has giant hair, a whole afro,” she said. “He loves to walk in there with the big old ‘fro and the pick in his hair.”

The actress said she questions David about his hair decisions, asking of him, “Do you realize the statement you’re making?”

“Know that just wearing your hair like that is a statement alone,” she tells him.

The TV host said her son is “very rooted” in who he is and that he’s “OK” with it. 

“Being a mom of a Black son, you have to make him conscious of and aware of certain things — who he is within the world,” she said. “And there’s so many layers he has to learn!”

Hudson said her soon-to-be 14-year-old is at an age “where he can fully understand” all that goes on around him and that “he’s so evolved beyond what I could ever imagine.”

The EGOT winner shared that she’s working with her son on “getting his priorities together” with things such as cleaning his room and helping around the house. What’s most important for her boy, she said, is knowing that “education comes first.” 

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