Jennifer Hudson praises relationship with Common, shares fresh take on pressure for women to wed
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Jennifer Hudson described her relationship with Common as “divine” while explaining why she has never felt pressure to get married.
Jennifer Hudson has an answer ready for anyone wondering when she and Common are getting married. It’s likely not the one anyone would expect.
Appearing on “Today with Jenna & Sheinelle,” the 45-year-old described the relationship, now four years running, in glowing terms. “It’s been divine, every bit of that,” Hudson said, per PEOPLE, pointing to the value of a partner she can relate to across multiple areas of life.
The practical benefits came up too. She recalled asking him to perform at Madison Square Garden, where he delivered “Glory,” one of her favorites. On the professional side, she noted the convenience of having someone qualified to step in at her talk show. “Do you mind hosting the show for me today?” she joked. “‘Cause he can talk.”
Then she addressed the expectation directly. “I’ve never been that girl that feels like, ‘Okay, I’ve gotta get married,’” Hudson said, calling that assumption a stigma placed on women specifically. She described the automatic presumption that women are working toward a wedding as something she has simply never carried.
She’s left the door open without attaching urgency to it, saying, “If that comes, it comes when you want it to or if you want it to.”
Hudson was engaged to David Otunga from 2008 until their 2017 separation, and she has lived through losses most people never face, including the 2008 murders of her mother, brother and nephew. Someone with that history declining to organize her life around a milestone reads less like avoidance than like clarity about what she actually values.
Common has been equally generous in public. Speaking with PEOPLE last month, the rapper, born Lonnie Rashid Lynn, described her as embodying soul and heart at the highest level, praising her care for people, for God and for her family. He acknowledged the difficulties she has endured, noting that she retains her light and still brings joy despite experiencing some of the hardest things a person can.
The two have been linked since 2022, the same year Hudson launched her daytime show.