Jennifer Hudson Performs ‘Sister Act’ Medley for First Halloween Episode of Her Talk Show

Jennifer Hudson took the audience of her talk show to church with her surprise Sister Act Halloween costume. The EGOT winner stunned and amazed the audience of The Jennifer Hudson Show Monday with her costume as Sister Mary Clarence from the 1992 film starring Whoopi Goldberg as the singing nun.

“Do you think I did okay, y’all?” Hudson asked the audience. “What do you think [Goldberg] will say?” The Dreamgirls alum then revealed that the 1993 sequel Sister Act 2: Back in the Habit was her favorite movie and helped inspire her dreams of becoming a singer in a musical, which she eventually brought to fruition as Effie White. “The movie just meant so much to me as a little girl,” she explained. “When I saw that movie, it gave me so much inspiration. That’s the power of an icon like Whoopi Goldberg. It helped me create my dreams.”

Hudson got to fulfill another dream when she performed the Sister Act 2 finale song with a choir, even ending hovering above the audience like Goldberg’s character at the end of the first movie. The momentous medley marks one of the show’s first big events since premiering on Sept. 12, with Hudson bringing in guests including Idol alum Simon Cowell to kick off her show.

“Why was the show so big in those days? It would be because of people like you. It’s a combination of talent, determination, and real personality,” Cowell told Hudson on the show. “And even though we had that, kind of, banter, you and I, it was always that. I always knew how determined you were. You were funny and you took it with grace because you kind of got it. I always thought that about you.”

Cowell also revealed he thought Hudson’s elimination on the show was due to a poor song choice during the week themed “Weekend In New England.” Cowell recalled, “I was thinking, ‘Who chose stupid Barry Manilow week?’ Wasn’t me.” He continued, “I remember thinking, ‘This is not a great song.’ It wasn’t your fault and then, of course, what happened, happened. And then I was thinking to myself a few days ago, ‘If you were going to go back in time, would you have changed the song or would you have kept things as they were?’”

Hudson then answered, “No, but it’s other songs before that that I would have changed because that song led me to get ‘Dreamgirls,’ honey because Barry Manilow structured that song as if it was ‘And I Am Telling You’ and a lot of people thought that’s what I was singing.”