Jennifer Hudson
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Best Supporting Actress Academy Award winner Jennifer Hudson took the stage at the Kodak Theater, breathlessly thanking God twice for her DreamGirls win and saying her grandmother was her inspiration.
"If my grandmother was here this evening to see me now… she was my biggest inspiration for everything because she was a singer and she had the passion for it, but she never had the chance," said Hudson, 25, breaking into tears. "And that was the thing that pushed me forward to continue."
Thankfully Hudson took off that hideous tinfoil caplet before accepting her award. Not only was her jacket a fashion "don't," it also covered up her curvaceous body.
Hudson was one of several voluptuous women who stole the show from the string of skinny sirens who usually rule Hollywood's most glamorous soiree.
Little Children star Kate Winslet, 31, clad in a figure-hugging mint green Valentino gown, acknowledged that she's a "record-breaker," winning more Oscar nominations for her generation than any of her pint-sized contemporaries.
"It's amazing. This kind of stuff isn't supposed to happen to someone like me who comes from a small town and was told I was only going to get parts for fat girls," she said.
Devil Wears Prada nominee Meryl Streep can be equally proud to throw her Oscar weight around. The 57-year-old actress has been nominated 14 times.
"And I'm a size 14, so it all matches," she said.
Then there was Hudson who put on 20-plus pounds for her role as Effie. Hudson said she slimmed down for the red carpet the old fashioned way: hard, hard work.
"I worked with my trainer, LaFonza Alston in Chicago through the summer," she told Ryan Seacrest during a red carpet interview. "I'd get up at 4 in the morning, go running for an hour and then go back to the gym at one o'clock."
Hudson dropped 25 pounds by eating salads, grilled chicken and nuts – and by making sure her food portions were no bigger than her hand.
"You've got to work for it," she says. "And I'm a firm believer: If it's not worth working hard for, it's not worth working at all."
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