Jennifer Hudson Says Her 15-Year-Old Son Helped Create Her New Christmas Album: ‘He’s a Holiday Fanatic’ (Exclusive)

Mar. 15, 2025

Jennifer Hudson and her son David Daniel Otunga Jr.Photo:Jennifer Hudson/Instagram

Jennifer Hudson/Instagram

Jennifer Hudsonrecently enlisted the help of two loved ones.

The daytime talk show host, 43, exclusively tells PEOPLE how her 15-year-old sonDavid Daniel Otunga Jr.and her boyfriendCommonboth pitched in to make some holiday magic on her new Christmas project.“[My son] helped name this holiday album,The Gift of Love,” Hudson says of Otunga Jr. — whom she shares with herex-fiancé, former WWE starDavid Otunga— while chatting abouther Old Navy holiday campaign.

Common and Jennifer Hudson on her talk show in 2024.Chris Haston/Warner Bros.

Chris Haston/Warner Bros.

The Gift of Love,released in October, is Hudson’s first holiday album and first album since theRespectsoundtrack in 2021 andJHUDin 2014.

“Everything is family-oriented, even that process,” Hudson emphasizes.

But a love for music and the holidays is not the only thing Hudson hopes to pass on, as she hopes to instill an important Christmas tradition: giving.

“He’s always looking for gifts to give others," Hudson says of her son. “He’s a giver. And that’s how he was raised. That’s the tradition that’s within him. He is very much like me. He loves to see everyone come together and have dinner together, have a good time together and seeing the unity in it all.”

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“I was saying ‘Twas the night before Christmas and all through the house,’ and then he came in and he flipped it and started freestyling it and made it really personal,” Hudson recalls. “Then I was like, ‘Actually, this would be a really cool idea for my holiday album where [he] does [his] interpretation of what that would be.’ And then the singing part came along, which is just us welding our musical worlds together.”Hudson’s album release coincides with her “Love is in the House” collaboration with Old Navy.The Gift of Lovewill be sold at select Old Navy stores in cities where Hudson is touring such as Chicago, Las Vegas, Los Angeles and New York City.“To think I get to go into Old Navy and one, shop, and two, see my holiday album, that’s a Christmas gift in itself for me,” Hudson says.

source: people.com