JENNIFER HUDSON TAKES THE STAGE AT THE AMBASSADORS FOR HUMANITY GALA

Jennifer Hudson put her powerful lungs to good use in Los Angeles on Thursday night (December 9).

Joined by a choir of singers, the Grammy-winning singer performed during the Ambassadors for Humanity Gala to benefit the USC Shoah Foundation Institute at the Hollywood & Highland Grand Ballroom.

Thanks to a new focus on fitness, J.Hud is looking leaner and lovelier than ever — so it’s no surprise that she’s been voted by Fitness magazine as having the best celebrity body in the category Best Celeb Slim Down.

The Dreamgirls star, who scored top marks for dropping from a size 16 to a size 6, attributed her drastic transformation to the birth of her son, which inspired her to lose weight, and also to Weight Watchers.

Jennifer, who is the latest spokesperson for the program, explains: “It’s not a diet, it’s really a way of living that teaches you better skills. For years I felt like I could never have ice cream, but I can eat ice cream occasionally now!”

The magazine, which is “all about looking good and feeling better”, had other categories including for Best Body After Baby (Bethanny Frankel), Best Curves (Christina Hendricks), Best Dancer’s Body (Karina Smirnoff), Cutest Workout Pair (Reese Witherspoon and Jim Toth) and Best Baby Bump (Melissa Rycroft).

THE BEST CELEB BODS ACCORDING TO ‘FITNESS’

Fitness magazine offers up a list of the “best” celeb bods as part of a new year-end list:

Best Celeb Slim Down (a tie):
Kelly Osbourne, who dropped 50 pounds and six dress sizes, tied with Jennifer Hudson, who went from a size 16 to a size 6.

Best Body After Baby:
Bethanny Frankel. At 40, this Real Housewife lost an astonishing 29 pounds in 21 days after giving birth to her daughter this year.

Best Age Defiers (a tie):
Courteney Cox, 46, who stays fit with the Tracey Anderson Method, a combination of dance aerobics and toning. And Kathy Griffin, 50. Although the comedienne has turned to diet pills and plastic surgery in the past, Fitness says she has lately stuck with diet and exercise to stay trim.

Best Bridal Bod:
Carrie Underwood, who ramped up her workouts pre-wedding with trainer Tony Greco by doing a balance of cardio and strength training.

Best Bride to Be:
Kate Middleton, who works out at the gym for an hour a day.

Best Curves:
Christina Hendricks, who is a fan of the BOSU ball, treadmill and weight workouts and loves real foods, regardless of the calories, such as avocado and olive oil.

Best Mom Abs:
Kate Gosselin, who believes she has a better body now than when she was in her teens and 20’s. Rain or shine, she hits the same running trail for 30-45 minutes a day and sticks to a strict all-organic diet.

Hottest Morning Show Host (tie):
Kelly Ripa, who hones her muscles with five-times-a-week workouts at Physique 57, tied with Elizabeth Hasselbeck, who stays in shape with a routine of cardio, core work and weight training every other day.

JENNIFER HUDSON LENDS HER VOICE TO ANDRE AGASSI’S GRAND SLAM BENEFIT

Jennifer Hudson was among the A-list performers at the Andre Agassi Foundation for Education’s 15th Grand Slam for Children benefit concert at the Wynn in Las Vegas on Saturday night (October 9).

After lending her talents to help raise funds to help improve education for underserved youth in the Las Vegas community, the Oscar-winning actress and Grammy-winning singer was all smiles as she posed backstage with her son David Daniel Otunga and fello musician Elton John.

While on stage, J.Hud received a standing ovation for her hit And I’m Telling You (I’m Not Going) before being joined on stage by Agassi Prep student AJ Green for a surprise duet.

Jennifer is back stateside after flming the lead role in the forthcoming Winnie Mandela biopic Winnie in South Africa. But the busy double threat still found time to work on her new album at the same time.

One of the tracks she’s recorded is I Remember Me, which sees her look back at how she’s changed over the years.

“I woke up one morning and I just started writing,” she say. “The song is about how in my 28 years, I feel like I have led four or five different lives, and the only way I know how to identify me at this point is that I have the same eyes, the same hands and the same feet. So I remember me, if that makes any sense.”

JENNIFER HUDSON CELEBRATES HER CHICAGO ROOTS

Jennifer Hudson was on hand to help Michigan Avenue magazine celebrate its two-year anniversary in Chicago, IL on Tuesday night (October 5).

The Grammy and Oscar winner, who performed I Will Always Love You and I Tell You Iím Not Going to a packed crowd, posed for the magazine’s September cover.

Miss Hudson is a Chicago native.

Meanwhile, J.Hud’s sophomore album has reportedly been postponed to early 2011 as the singer has decided to waste no time and head back to the studio for new tracks and to record a possible duet.

Jennifer was in New York last week and reportedly had a “very memorable” meeting with R&B songstress Alicia Keys and her husband super-producer Swizz Beatz.

JENNIFER HUDSON: BLACK BALL BEAUTY

Once upon a time, Jennifer Hudson was known as the chubby girl from American Idol. Nowadays nothing could be further from the truth.

Looking leaner and lovlier than ever, the Oscar-winning actress/Grammy-winning singer was among the attendees at Keep A Child Alive’s 7th annual Black Ball at Hammerstein Ballroom in New York City on Thursday (September 30).

Posing alongside Whitney Houston and the lady of the night Alicia Keys, J.Hud spent the night bringing celebrity and philanthropy together to fulfill hopes, dreams and raise funds for children and families with HIV/AIDS in Africa and India.

Next up for Jennifer? She will be among the entertainers who will be on hand when The Kennedy Center presents the 13th annual Mark Twain Prize for American Humor to Emmy Award-winning actress and writer Tina Fey on November 9. The show will be taped for broadcast on November 14 on PBS.

Other participants in the ceremony will include Jon Hamm, Steve Martin, Betty White, Fred Armisen, Jimmy Fallon, Seth Meyers, along with Saturday Night Live creator Lorne Michaels.

JENNIFER HUDSON PAINTS THE TOWN RED

Jennifer Hudson is a lady in red as she heads back to her hotel in New York City today (September 15) holding onto a black leather jacket.

The Oscar-winning actress and Grammy-winning singer has been making the media rounds all day tending to her promotional duties for the latest Weight Watchers campaign.

J.Hud is in the Big Apple after celebrating her 29th birthday in her hometown of Chicago.

On Sunday night, she performed at a special gospel concert at Christ Universal Temple on South Ashland, raising money to provide gifts for deserving children during the holiday season.

It was the Julian King Toy Drive, in honor of her late nephew. Julian, Jennifer’s mother and brother were murdered in the fall of 2008.

The goal of the toy drive is to gather toys for less-fortunate kids this Christmas.