Jennifer Hudson had quite the momentous, and celebratory, Monday to kick off her special week.
On Monday, September 16, the EGOT winner officially returned to work as she premiered the third season of her talk show, The Jennifer Hudson Show.
The show's return came just days after she celebrated her 43rd birthday, and her colleagues, the audience, and even her son David Otunga Jr. made sure she was feeling celebrated.
Jennifer kicked off the first episode of season three by announcing how happy she is to see everyone, before giving fans some insight into how she celebrated her birthday.
"I got to celebrate it with my loved ones, that's what I wanted to do," she shared, adding: "It was so beautiful, I enjoyed it." Though she noted that she didn't "want to do too much," she shared that above all, she wanted to spend her day with her loved ones and with animals.
The day started off with quite the empowering omen, as the first thing she saw when she woke up was a hummingbird flying outside of her bedroom window. "If I see a hummingbird, I know it's going to be okay," she explained.
"That for me is my symbol of joy, and a symbol of goodness that to me I feel like God sends me throughout the day."
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She continued the day by visiting an equestrian center with her son and spending it riding horses, and she joked that because the birthday outing was only four days ago, she was still "sore" from it.
Jennifer also shared with her audience what she received as gifts from her family, including a gold necklace with the word "mama" on it from her son, and a bracelet that spelled "worthy" from her sister Julia Hudson.
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When the episode was coming to an end, the singer said: "This has been such a fun day," and emphasized: "I want to keep sharing all this joy," however the celebrations weren't over just yet, as she was then surprised with a video montage featuring emotional messages from fans detailing how she had an impact on their lives.
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Jennifer was left in both awe and tears, and told the audience, who was giving her a standing ovation: "I did not see that coming, I love you all."
She ultimately declared: "I hope you choose joy. We have no choice but to keep that going, and we can do that together," and the episode ended with a choir coming in to sing happy birthday.