Jennifer Hudson and her newly svelte, pink-clad body grace the cover of the September 2011 issue of Self, which is out now.

While Hudson's dramatic weight loss has been well-documented in the press and in her Weight Watchers commercials, the singer says that dropping 80 lbs and shrinking from a size 16 to a size 6 made her incredibly proud. In fact, it might have been her proudest moment. "I'm prouder of my weight loss than my Oscar," she exclaimed.

It wasn't until her 2004 turn on 'American Idol' that Hudson became aware of her weight. "I didn't even know I was considered plus-sized until I came to Hollywood," the Midwesterner said. "I thought I was the perfect size!"

While perception is reality, her perception differed markedly from Hollywood's view of her. When she was questioned on a red carpet about being a plus-sized star, Hudson was surprised that the interviewer was referring to her. "In the neighborhood I'm from in Chicago, a 16 is normal," Hudson said. "But in Hollywood, everyone looks exactly the same, so I stood out."

Despite her positive self-image, when Hudson became pregnant with son David, now 2, she decided that it was time to take the reigns and deal with her weight via portion control and exercise "I thought, hold on – why doesn't anybody know I'm pregnant?" she said about the decision to lose weight. "And I wanted to set a good example for my son."

Hudson looks gorgeous at any size.  She turns heads with regularity.

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