"Oh, I'm working with a singer who acts. I felt like I was working with a woman who truly knew how to tell a story, whether she was speaking or singing or just standing there feeling something."

"When you prerecord you're married to that emotion, that delivery. I like the rawness, the honesty of being in the moment."

"That's exactly how Aretha would eat! That's exactly how she was.'" Hudson remembers. I loved having people around that knew her, to give notes or give the okay or chime in."

"We will continue to support Jennifer in maintaining her healthy lifestyle and wish her the very best in her personal and professional life."

"It's like a brand new me, Sometimes I don't even recognize myself."

"It's all about self-motivation because at the end of the day, you can have all the trainers and all the money in the world, but if you don't have that mindset, it's not possible."

"Chicago is home. Obviously, family, and it's all I know. I don't care where I go in the world, there is no place like home. Every time I come home, I get to come home to Chicago."

"Everything happens for a reason, and everything is going to turn out the way it should."

"...having to experience so much so soon, and then to have to carry the weight of the world on your shoulders, that's a lot. I can understand that."

"I'm a mother and I have a life that's in my care and someone that looks up to me. That helps me see myself in a whole other light in a different way. It's a whole new world."

"I went from being an aunt, having a mom, and being a child to not having a mom, becoming a mom, and raising my own child."

"A great example of colorism is to believe I can be compared to anyone,"

"We need to stop separating ourselves by how dark or how light we are."

"Follow your heart’s truth with no need for personal gain other than the feeling produced when doing what you truly love."

"You decide what beautiful means to you. We don’t all need to look the same. Beauty is in the eye of the beholder, you decide what’s beautiful in the world. Not the other way around."

"It's unfortunate that the "hustle hard" thing can be toxic, too, to our lives. It's OK to grind, but don't grind your wheels off, pooh. Work hard, but work smart. Be able to leave a space for you to still enjoy it to where you're not looking at the end and resenting something you care about."

"Often, kids don’t appreciate the choices available, as if it’s either the street or nothing."

"Well, I don’t really have time to do much [exercise], I just watch what I eat. I’m very careful and cautious of what I’m eating and I just try to place those meals throughout the day."

"Stuff like this happens in your own home! I defy all the odds being African-American, living in a wealthy neighborhood and being a working mom. It’s too many foreign things in one person! It’s so ignorant. Race is just one of them. I face them all."

"Anytime you see Beyonce, Jay Z, Kanye West. Anytime a young black person's doing good, that's motivation for everybody else. Anytime, anytime, it's motivation. Use that fuel to push you forward. That's what I did"

"I think you can do anything you put your mind to. I think your mind is the worst thing you can use as a reason to not do something."

"You can do anything as long as you don't stop believing. When it is meant to be, it will be. You just have to follow your heart."

"I am at the weight I want to be, People are under the impression that I’m still losing but I’m not."

"God is so good. Always follow your dreams, own your purpose! Embrace God’s anointing."

"I always like to say what men can't conquer, they like to destroy, I've learned, and that's something else that Mama Franklin taught me."

"The bad thing about animal protection is it never seems to get better, We can look back in history and see things not having changed with the way they were, so it’s an ongoing fight to protect any kind of animal."

"Well, I’m not very comfortable with looking at myself in the mirror before I do a scene, anyway. It really throws me."

"People should be reminded that we are one. I don’t care where we’re from or we’re going, but we are all in this together and we are one. Like it or not, suffering together, suffering individually, however it is, we’re all the same one."

"Life does imitate art many times, and people pick up from the movies. Messages are sent that way. I’d like to see more and more women collaborate on films in which they show great, deep devotion and friendship. It’s important."

"We are one half of this planet and yet women all over the world are second class citizens. There are many women abused in so many countries. To be a woman today is quite a place to sit."

"But if you really look at it, men are kept as the sacred ones and touted the older they get. It’s always been the old adage that women are put out to pasture the older they get."

"Beauty is in the eye of the beholder, That’s number one. What someone thinks as beautiful might not be to someone else."

"I’m not a big red-carpet girl. But I love the work."

"You come to a place in your life where you really learn what it is and how it is and what make you tick as an actress. It takes you a long time to learn how to be an actress. It really does. And then you find these buttons that become so accessible to you. And you just push them."

"She grew up in the limelight but I tried to provide stability and a quieter world."

"about a hundred and eight, I think"

"I wanted to be an actress - I didn't want to be a model, I felt myself choking to death. I hated it with a passion. I got hurt very easily. I mean, I'd come in weighing 115 pounds, and I'm 5 feet 7 ½, and I'd be told I was TEN pounds too heavy! And I still wasn't eating a damn thing!"

"As I have grown up in the acting world, I have learned a lot about really listening and keeping quiet, even in my own life. Less talk, more listening. It has taught me a lot about life and acting."

"I think she wanted to stick her foot in and see what it would bring. And she’s doing extremely well. You just want them to follow their own path, and she totally did this on her own."

"I love being by the beach because I participate in all water sports, especially surfing, I love music and I love books of all types."

"I have always loved writing and I'm getting more into it these days, especially children's books."

"Kim Basinger wasn’t there."

"Learn to love yourself and all that other stuff will not matter."

"I don't ask tabloids to chase me around every week. But at the same time, I would never take back any part of who I am or where I came from. I would never want to be part of anything else. I'm honored and proud of my family and my dad."

"But the people who do show love and who love what I do, those are the people who I work for, who I want to keep happy. You can’t worry about the haters."

"Death is part of life whether we like it or not — and so is grieving. There is so much to learn and understand on the subject, but here's what I know so far: One is that grief does not stop or go away in any sense, a year, or years after the loss. Grief is something you will have to carry with you for the rest of your life, in spite of what certain people or our culture wants us to believe. You do not "get over it," you do not "move on," period."

"People try to go tell you stuff, and they’re not in your shoes. They don’t see all the footwork that goes into it. Mentally and physically, it’s just a drain. They don’t know what you’ve been through, so people always try to tell you “You know what I would do? I would do that.” You don’t even know the half."

"Every day something special has happened. Every day something new keeps happening. It’s crazy."

"I think the way that you dress always can add spice to whatever you’re doing, to hold people’s attention."

"This is where finding others who have experienced a similar loss can be the only way to go. Support groups that have your specific kind of loss in common. I go to them, and I hold them for other bereaved parents at my home. Nothing, absolutely NOTHING takes away the pain, but finding support can sometimes help you feel a little bit less alone."