Jennifer Hudson and Simon Cowell Talk About Her Early Elimination from Idol – Watch

Jennifer Hudson is certainly the most celebrated singer to ever not win “American Idol.” And just recently the amazing artist had a chance to sit down with Idol Judge Simon Cowell to talk about her elimination from the 2004 season of the show. 

Cowell was very willing to speak candidly about this event, he was the first guest to appear on Hudson’s new talk show, “The Jennifer Hudson Show. It debuted on September 12th. 

The 62-year-old former American Idol judge said, “Why was the show so big in those days? It would be because of people like you. It’s a combination of talent, determination, and real personality,” Cowell began. “And even though we had that, kind of, banter, you and I, it was always that. I always knew how determined you were. You were funny and you took it with grace because you kind of got it. I always thought that about you.”

Simon then got specific about the night that Hudson was eliminated.

“I was thinking, ‘Who chose stupid Barry Manilow week?’ Wasn’t me,” Cowell said, with Hudson recalling the week’s theme being “Weekend In New England.”

“I remember thinking, ‘This is not a great song.’ It wasn’t your fault and then, of course, what happened, happened,” he continued. “And then I was thinking to myself a few days ago, ‘If you were going to go back in time, would you have changed the song or would you have kept things as they were?’”

Hudson replied, “No, but it’s other songs before that that I would have changed because that song led me to get ‘Dreamgirls,’ honey because Barry Manilow structured that song as if it was ‘And I Am Telling You’ and a lot of people thought that’s what I was singing.”

Hudson continued saying that she felt like many of the songs she sang before her elimination did not represent her artistry. 

“By the time I was eliminated, I felt I had gotten an opportunity to display who I was as an artist, so I was OK with being eliminated,” she continued. “And then once I was, I was like, ‘You know what, you’re walking away with your talent, you’re walking away with your gift. This competition may be over, but your passion isn’t, your love and your drive isn’t.’”

Hudson came in 7th that year, but her career skyrocketed and she went on to win a best-supporting actress Academy Award for her 2007 role in “Dreamgirls.”

And just recently, she became the 17th person to win an EGOT after getting a Tony Award for producing the Broadway show “A Strange Loop.”

Hudson showed off the new trophy on social media right next to her Emmy, two Grammys, and her Oscar. 

She’s done OK.

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