Jennifer Hudson Posts Photo Tribute to Late Mother on Her 66th Birthday

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Jennifer Hudson is honoring her late mother, Darnell Donerson, on what would be her 66th birthday.

On Monday night, the 35-year-old singer posted a photo herself alongside an image of her mother when she was younger, revealing how much they resemble one another. "Today would have been my late mothers 66th b-day!" Hudson captioned the post. "In her words, 'If you think you've seen it all, just keep on living.'"

In October 2008, Hudson's mother, who was 57 at the time, her 29-year-old brother, Jason, and her 7-year-old nephew, Julian King, were fatally shot in the house that the singer grew up in, located in Chicago's South Side neighborhood. The Oscar winner's brother-in-law, William Balfour, was found guilty of the killings and is currently serving time in prison.


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Hudson and her sister, Julia, started the Julian D. King Gift Foundation in honor of the star's nephew, in an effort to turn their tragic loss into hope for thousands of underprivileged kids in Chicago. "My mother always told me, 'What I love about you is no matter how negative things are, you always seem to find the positive,'" the American Idol alum told ET. "I had no idea what we were starting, and so to think back then to now, it's like, look at the seed we have planted!"