Jennifer Hudson Dishes Her Talk Show & New Duet with Common (Exclusive)

Jennifer Hudson is kicking off Season 3 of her hit daytime talk show!

“Extra’s” Terri Seymour caught up with the star to talk about her upcoming birthday, Christmas duet with her man Common, and what’s ahead on “The Jennifer Hudson Show.”

Hudson turns 43 on September 12 and told Terri she would love to go to dinner to celebrate. “I just want to be with my family,” Hudson shared. “And I want to ride horses and be with my cat. It's 43. It's not like 40… Just keep it simple.”

She’s warming up for the holidays, too, with a Christmas album, and it will be her first new music in 10 years.

As for making music with Common, she said, “Rashid and Common are two different people as far as I’m concerned. Rashid is so lovable and so sweet but when you talk to the artist Common... It's like, ‘Child. Where did Rashid go?’ He's a musical genius. I call him King of Words.”

Saying the whole thing came about when he freestyled “‘Twas the Night Before Christmas” around the holidays on the phone, she recalled, “I’m like, ‘This is amazing. Hey, I need to do something like that for my Christmas album.’”

Hudson went on, “‘Almost Christmas’ is what Common named it and created for my Christmas album.  It’s always fun. We did a song on his album… It's fun to venture together musically. Which always happened very organically… Being artists, we are music lovers.”

Will they perform the duet on her show? Jennifer teased, “Maybe. You'll have to wait and see but I like that idea.”

Dishing on “The Jennifer Hudson Show,” she said of Season 3, “It blows my mind. I remember starting Season 1 and now we're here at Season 3. But I want 22 more seasons after this. That is my goal.”

Hudson loves to spread joy on her show, telling Terri, “I love creating good memories and seeing people come together.”

One of Jennifer’s first guests will be Angela Bassett! Jennifer gushed, “She was a dream to be one of my first guests. It's Angela Bassett. She's a legend.”

Also coming up, the host said, “We got Dave Bautista coming through. We've got Jimmy Kimmel coming through.”

But there is that one person she still wants to have on, and that is Rihanna.

“I think she's everyone's dream. I love Rihanna,” she said. “I think what she has done with her career and how approachable she is as a human. She's always been one of my favorite celebrities to run into.”

Terri suggested she ask her personally. Hudson laughed, with this message to the singer: “Rihanna, it's your girl, JHud!”