Talk about a big family! Jennifer Hudson stunned fans when she made a startling revelation about her many siblings this week.
During the finale episode of Your Mama's Kitchen: Conversations from the Heart of the Home podcast, the singer was quizzed about her family.
Host Michele Norris said of her dad, Samuel Simpson: "Your father had a big personality, and you went – with your siblings – and found him at some point, and found that you had a lot more siblings?"
But it wasn't just one or two brothers and sisters that Jennifer discovered, it was close to 30.
"Yeah, it’s a lot of us. Apparently he had 27 children. That’s a lot of children," Jennifer quipped, before adding: "I’ve never met all of them but that’s the thing, I’m a family person. So, when I turned 16, I’m like, 'I want to go find Sam'. It’s what we called him. I want to meet all my siblings."
Jennifer revealed she was desperate to meet them all, adding: "It was my dream to have all of us at this grand Thanksgiving or Christmas table, and we all sit and eat together. That was my goal at 16."
She managed to meet six or seven of them and grew up with two siblings, Julia and her late brother Jason.
“We found quite a few of us, and I'm the youngest of all of them," Jennifer explained.
"When my grandma on his [her dad] side passed, my siblings over there were like, 'Y'all got a sister that can really sing, you should meet her. And eventually we all came together."
Jennifer is a mom to her 14-year-old son, David Otunga Jr. - who she shares with her ex David Otunga - and he's passionate about family life like his famous mom.
"I love to try to make sure he has the closest thing to him," Jennifer said during the podcast. "Just making sure he has his cousins circle and that base and foundation. That's part of why I had moved back to Chicago, because I wanted him to have the surroundings of his family around him growing up."
While they're now living in Los Angeles, she said they "make a point" of Sunday dinners.
"That's one thing that's very important," she continued. "And then he has cousins that come in and out. One of them is here right now. And so to keep that family burning, so he has that same upbringing or going to see the loved ones I talked to.
"We have a huge family. People like the fact that y'all are this close and your family is this big. Like, all of us are still very connected."