State Champ Radio The Jennifer Hudson Show
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Skai Jackson stopped by The Jennifer Hudson Show on Wednesday (March 22) to reminisce about meeting Justin Bieber as a child star.
The 20-year-old actress, who grew up as a diehard Belieber, told Hudson it was only after a number of missed opportunities and waiting “hours” at a time that she finally came face to face with her childhood idol when he was filming at a soundstage next door to where she was working.
“One day we were filming and next thing, I come out and I see him and Selena Gomez standing there, and I’m like, ‘Oh my gosh!’” she told host Jennifer Hudson. “And he was so sweet, he was so sweet.”
Only later did the Jessie alum realize that the superstar had snuck into her dressing room to leave her a handwritten, autographed note that read, “Skai, nice to meet you! You are very cute, make sure to always stay sweet!! God bless.”
“I still have it to this day,” Jackson admitted. “I was cleaning my closet and I found it again. I was like, ‘Thank god!’ So I put it away. But it’s been like 10 years, so I still have it.”
These days, the Biebs is continuing to recover from the Ramsay Hunt syndrome diagnosis that left half of his face temporarily paralyzed. At the start of the month, he appeared to cancel all remaining dates on his long-postponed Justice World Tour just days before making a surprise appearance during Don Toliver’s set at Rolling Loud in California.
Watch Jackson talk about meeting Bieber below.
Jennifer Hudson welcomed Paula Abdul to her eponymous talk show on Friday (March 3) to look back on their time together on season three of American Idol.
Of course, the first thing that comes to mind when thinking back to that early season was the shocking moment Hudson was eliminated in seventh place after finding herself in the bottom three with fellow frontrunners LaToya London and eventual winner Fantasia Barrino.
“Oh my goodness, that was a moment,” the OG Idol judge said. “When you were eliminated, it was like the whole world was pissed. That’s true! I’m sure they come up to you, I mean, people still talk to me about, ‘God, that night Jennifer Hudson was eliminated.’ I go, ‘I know!’”
However, the “Straight Up” singer also revealed some words of encouragement she shared with the Idol hopeful immediately after her controversial ousting. “It was on Entertainment Tonight, and I said you, ‘You know, I have a feeling some amazing things are gonna happen to you.’ ‘Member, I said, ‘People that need to win, win. And the people that don’t need to win end up winning big time.’ And you did.”
Abdul may or may not have psychic powers, considering Hudson has gone on to become the first and so far only Idol alum to reach EGOT status following her 2021 Daytime Emmy Award for outstanding interactive media for a daytime program, and 2022 Tony Award as a producer of A Strange Loop. (She previously won an Academy Award for portraying Effie White in 2006’s Dreamgirls, and has taken home two different Grammys over the years.)
Watch Hudson’s trip down memory lane with Abdul below.
