Jennifer Hudson holds event to remember nephew

LONDON - Oscar winning actress Jennifer Hudson organised a toy drive in memory of her murdered nephew.

Jennifer wanted to focus on happier times with seven-year-old Julian, who was brutally murdered two years ago along with her mother Darnell Donerson and brother Jason Hudson, so she organised the Chicago event to help other children enjoy the festive season.

“This was a good way to keep Julian’s memory alive by blessing other children through the holiday season. For us, we never had a sad Christmas, so we want to make other children’s Christmas be as enjoyable as ours were growing up,” femalefirst.co.uk quoted her as saying.

Jennifer’s sister Julia agreed this was the perfect way to honour her dead son.

“Julian always had toys. I would come home and see his bike down the street and say, ‘Why is your bike down the street?’ ‘Oh I gave it away.’ This would be right up his alley I think. I know he’s smiling, something he would have done, exactly,” said Julia.

Jennifer, who has a 16-month-old son David Daniel with fiance David Otunga, revealed creating the toy drive in Julian’s memory had already made her Christmas better and added David had helped the whole family cope with their tragedy.