Jennifer Hudson: Forgiveness is the attribute of the strong


By Liso Donaldson    08-Oct-2012 08:27 UTC+02:00 2

Jennifer Hudson and her convicted brother in law William Balfour. Photo: NY Daily News.com

Jennifer Hudson has forgiven her former brother-in-law for murdering her mother, brother and nephew in 2008, saying it is ‘not his fault’ that he shot them dead. Estranged from Hudson’s sister Julia, at the time of the murders, he was allegedly jealous of a new relationship she had started following their break-up.

On an episode of Oprah Winfrey’s chat show ‘Oprah’s Next Chapter’ (10.09.2012) the 30-year-old singer-and-actress spoke out for the first time since Chicago Judge, Charles Burns,sentenced William Balfour to three life sentences without the possibility of parole for fatally shooting her mother Darnell Donerson, 57, her brother Jason Hudson, 29,in the family’s South Side Chicago house and then kidnapping and killing her seven-year-old nephew Julian King on October 24, 2008.

According to the Chicago Tribune Burns called Balfour’s soul “as barren as dark space”and added a further 120 years onto the three consecutive life sentences for the additional felonies of home invasion and aggravated kidnapping.A lengthy sentence for what Burns called “crimes that send a chill through all of us”.

Balfour, who looked on without expression as Burns read the sentence, made a brief statement to the victims’ families before learning his fate. “My condolences go out to the family,” said Balfour, as Jennifer Hudson and other members of her family looked on. “My deepest sympathies go to Julian King. I loved him. I still love him.”

“The fact that you can stand in court and tell us you love that child is an insult to all of us,” Judge Burns said. “There’s no doubt in my mind he looked up to you as you were putting bullets into his head.” Burns added, his voice shaking. “I just hope his terror was short-lived.”

Jennifer admits when she first heard the news that her mother and brother had been gunned down in Chicago she was shocked and ‘confused’ and she did not know ‘who to grieve for first’.  Later she found out Julian was reported missing from home and then discovered dead in an abandoned SUV days later.

When asked if she forgave Balfourshe said: “Yes, because I feel like for the most part it was not his fault.It was how he was brought up. We tried to offer love, but he was so far gone, that he couldn’t even see that.A lot of things came out that we didn’t even know about regarding his upbringing, which made it seem like he never had a chance.  If he had received the love my mother gave us, or the background that some have, he might have stood a chance.”

Hudson, who is yet to visit the graves of her three murdered relatives, says she is now ready to see their resting place after ‘justice’ was done. She added: “I haven’t been to the grave site since we buried them but now I want to go because I feel like okay, we’ve accomplished things. We’ve done this.  We got justice”.

After a 4 year long battle, justice has finally been served.



 2 Comments


  1. Lucia says:

    Sometimes celebs say things just to impress the public. I don’t think it’s possible to forgive someone who killed your mother & brother unless you didn’t care about them.

  2. The Editor says:

    She’s just happy with the sentence. She should have revealed her forgiveness b4 hearing that her brother in law would get 3 life sentences.

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