Jennifer Hudson On EGOT Status: 'I Did Not Fully See It Coming'

Multi-hyphenated singer Jennifer Hudson opened up about her recent Tony Awards win, making her an EGOT awardee, with Gayle King of CBC Mornings in a sit-down interview.

"I did not fully see it coming. I went there to celebrate the cast for getting 11 nominations, and I don't feel like I've been present," she recalled.

"And then when they said, 'Strange Loop, best musical,' I was cheering for them. And once we get on the stage, everybody started chanting, 'EGOT, EGOT,' and I was like, 'Wait what?'"

That was when it sank in for Hudson, but perhaps it has not fully sunk in for her, because she revealed, "You know, I'm still processing it. To be able to know fully what that means, the company that I'm in ... because it came as a surprise."

The 17th

Hudson proudly showed off her trophies, wearing a baseball cap with the number 17 on Twitter. She captioned the tweet with, "Counting down til my birthday! In a few days, I will be 41 but then again I will always be 17!"

The "Spotlight" singer added 17 to her long list of titles because she is the 17th EGOT awardee, she explained.

"I call myself 17 because 17th EGOT. I'm the 17th," she said as she showed off her ring that reads EGO and her separate necklace charm that says 17.

EGOT refers to Emmy, Grammy, Oscar, and Tony. Artists who have won all four awards are regarded highly in the industry, as it shows their mastery and excellence in the fields of music and acting.

With her newly minted EGOT status, Hudson is now the youngest awardee and the second black woman to have received the prestigious status.

Other EGOT winners include Whoopi Goldberg, Audrey Hepburn, Andrew Llyod Webber, Mel Brooks, John Legend, Marvin Hamlisch, and more.

Multi-Awarded

The Broadway star not only has the EGOT awards under her belly, but she has received several awards from the BET Awards, People's Choice Awards, Soul Train Awards, and more.

In 2007, she received an Oscar for Best Supporting Actress for her performance in Dreamgirls. She also won at the British Academy Film Awards, Golden Globe Awards, and Black Reel Awards.

In 2009, Hudson won Best R&B Album for "Spotlight" and "The Color Purple" won in 2017 for Best Musical Theater Album.

She has been nominated several times the Grammy Awards, including Best Compilation Soundtrack for Visual Media for "Respect" and Best Song Written for Visual Media for "Here I Am (Singing My Way Home)" in 2022.

Hudson won Outstanding Production of a Musical for "A Strange Loop" in June. The musical premiered in 2019, and won the Pulitzer Prize for Drama in 2020.

Tags

EGOT, Award