Celebrities Attend Private Memorial Service Today for Jennifer Hudson’s Family

A number of celebrities are expected to attend a private memorial service today for Jennifer Hudson’s mother, brother and nephew who were all slain last week.

Celebrities such as Missy Elliott, Oprah Winfrey, Clive Davis, Queen Latifah, Usher and Patti LaBelle will be in attendance at the Apostolic Church of God in Chicago.

A public service was held yesterday but the Hudson family did not attend.

Chicago police last week found the murder weapon used in the three killings in a vacant lot. The gun was registered to Hudson’s brother Jason Hudson who reported it stolen from his mother’s home two months ago.

Hudson had the gun for protection after being shot in the leg during a home invasion earlier this year. Hudson later refused medical treatment and used a cane to assist with mobility.

Meanwhile, Hudson is reportedly unable to return to the large 3-story home where she grew up in the rough Englewood section of Chicago.

According to her mentor Andre Leon Talley, Hudson went back to the home but couldn’t bring herself to go inside. Talley, Vogue’s editor-at-large, tells the New York Daily News, “I believe she went back just once, to the gate, but didn’t go inside.”

He adds, “We’ve talked constantly. I’ve sent her many e-mails; I’ve sent her my support and so has Anna Wintour (U.S. Vogue editor-in-chief). And she just says thank you, thank you, thank you.

“She wants everyone, all her fans, to know how much their support has meant to her. And she’s going to be all right. Jennifer has faith in God. They’re just praying, every day, every minute, for the strength to get through this. And she will – she’s a very strong girl.”

Hudson and family members have been ensconced at the Trump Towers hotel in downtown Chicago since word of the killings.

Friends and family are hoping the Chicago police haven’t botched this case. The prime suspect William Balfour has been held as a “person of interest” since the day of the killings. He still has not been charged with any crime and his family members say he has not seen a lawyer.

Sources 1 and 2

http://myspace.com/bettathaniwasb4 2bme

i’m still so saddened by this..i’m happy to see her peers are supporting her
kwallace577

i cosign with 2bme. i am glad the celeb circle is in touch with her during her time of need.
Kymystry

This is still un-real to me … God be with her and her family !
Avanti

Its nice that so many of her close friends and people that she looks up to can be there for her. Seems like Oprah & Patti would be comforting to have around.

I’m so happy that she still has some relatives left and that her sister wasn’t home last Friday.

As for the murder weapon belonging to the victim, that leans even more towards the thought that the suspect has been in the home before and is known to the victims (i.e. possibly Balfour).
mizzdallas

GM! SR family!

Kym I agree this is still unreal 2 me, may their souls rest in heaven!
licia

jennifer and her sister are forever in my prayers. i couldn’t imagine going through this . as everyone has said it’s good to know that jennifer’s peers are there to help her get through her time of need.
KaraZ

I hope the case can be solved and the perpetrator, prosecuted. I hope the press et al will give her and her family the space to grieve.
ladilovely

‘I Didn’t Vote For Obama’

‘I Didn’t Vote For Obama’ by Kentucky Scott

I’m a middle-class white guy living in Jacksonville , Florida . I’ve got a wife and two kids. Because the kids had no school today, I took a vacation day from work, and took the kids downtown to vote early. Fifty-nine minutes later, two smiling children and I proudly sported ‘I Voted’ stickers.
But I didn’t vote for Obama.

I voted for my ancestors, who believed in the promise of this country and came with nothing as immigrants. I voted for my parents, who taught in the public schools for decades. I voted for Steve, an acquaintance of mine from Kentucky . (Killed by an IED two years ago in Iraq ). I voted for Shawn, another who’s been to Iraq twice, and Afghanistan once, and who’ll be going back to Afghanistan again soon — and whose family earned eleven bucks a month too much to qualify for food stamps when the war started. I voted for April, the only African-American girl in my high school — it was years before it occurred to me how different her experience of our school must have been. I voted for my college friends who are Christian, Jewish, Mormon, and yes — Muslim. I voted for my grandfathers, who worked hard in factories and died too young. I voted for the plumber who worked on my house, because I want him to get a REAL tax break. I voted for four little angels from Birmingham . I voted for a bunch of dead white men who, although personally flawed, were willing to pledge their lives, fortunes, and sacred honor, and used a time of great crisis to expand freedom rather than suspend it. I voted for all those people and more, and I voted for all of you, too.

But mostly, I voted selfishly: I voted for two little kids, one who has ballet in an hour, and one who has baseball practice at the same time. I voted for a world where they can be confident that their government will represent the best that is in this country, and that will in turn demand the best of them.
I voted for a government that will be respected in the world. I voted for an economy that will reward work above guile. I voted for everything I believe in. Sure, I filled in the circle next to the name Obama, but it wasn’t him I was voting for — it was every single one of us, and those I love most of all.’
~Kissan~

Sad, sad, sad.
I wouldn’t have been able to go in that house either. Especially with blood stains and God knows what else in there. My prayers are with the family and I hope the guilty are caught and charged soon.
Lemondrop

Wow I can only Imagine and when I do the thought just floors me.

On another note her sister or someone finally put that page on private!
Kymystry

I would get the house bulldozed … blownup .. torn down ..
http://myspace.com/diva_mama2 DivaMama

What’s sad is that they don’t have any personal time to grieve as a family. The press needs to leave them be. Hopefully there won’t be a bunch of helicopters and such trying to get exclusive pictures. Give them a break.
http://myspace.com/tamarlese Peachizz

@ladilovely,
Damn, that was a mouth full…
LUSCIOUS

What’s worse is that had Jennifer not have been an award winning celebrity…this case wouldn’t have even got this much media time.Everything is much more important and blown up when you’re a celeb.The point is it’s tragic and no one deserves that pain.no matter what their status in life is.But all in all i pray for her strength.and i hope the paparazzi don’t be harassing the girl @ the funeral.i know security is gonna be deep as hell though.especially with “Oprah” there.
jazi65

SUCH A HEARTBREAKING TIME FOR JEN & HER FAMILY. MY PRAYERS GO OUT TO THEM.

AS FOR THE PERSON OF INTEREST. YEA EVERYONE IS INNOCENT UNTIL PROVEN GUILTY BUT REFUSING TO SPEAK OR TAKE A POLYGRAPH MAKES PPL WONDER. I DOUBT THE POLICE ARE DENYING HIM REPRESENTATION, THEY WANT TO GET THIS CASE RESOLVED.
ELove

#14… AGREED
Missy Elliot (Hmmmm, Interesting Indeed)

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