Jennifer Hudson Isn’t Changing Her ‘EGO’ Ring After Achieving EGOT Status, But She’s Getting a New Commemorative Piece of Jewelry

Actor and singer Jennifer Hudson has won an Emmy Award, a Grammy Award, an Oscar, and a Tony Award, joining the exclusive club of people in Hollywood with the coveted EGOT status. Hudson went years without completing the quartet with her Tony Award, so she wore a ring that read “EGO” for many years. But rather than add a “T” to it, Hudson is commemorating her achievement in a new way.

Jennifer Hudson reached EGOT status in 2022

Jennifer Hudson first won an Academy Award for her role in Dreamgirls in 2007. She went on to win a Grammy Award for her self-titled album two years later. In 2021, she won a Daytime Emmy Award for Baba Yaga.

In 2022, Hudson completed her EGOT with the Best Musical win for A Strange Loop at the Tony Awards. Hudson served as a producer on the show. When she went to take the stage with her co-workers and the show’s stars, she was shocked to hear people chanting “EGOT.”

She explained in an interview with Gayle King on CBS This Morning that she didn’t realize at first what she had just accomplished, and even months after her win, she’s still fully grasping what her win meant.

“I’m still processing it. To be able to know fully what that means, the company that that is… It came as a surprise,” Hudson said. “I did not fully see it coming.”

She’s not changing her ‘EGO’ ring

“I went there to celebrate the cast for getting 11 nominations, and I don’t feel like I’ve been present. And then when they said, ‘Strange Loop, best musical,’ I was cheering for them,” Hudson continued. “And once we get on the stage, everybody started chanting, ‘EGOT, EGOT,’ and I was like, ‘Wait, what?’”

“It blows me away,” she said.

“I always have a keepsake just as I have this,” she said as she pointed to a ring she has with the letters “EGO.” “So now I have a charm that says 17. When you see 17, that’s what it means.” Hudson was the 17th person to enter the EGOT club.

Hudson added that she won’t be changing her “EGO” ring “since it’s held me down for a while,” but she will eventually get an “EGOT” ring to mark the achievement.

Jennifer Hudson is the youngest female EGOT winner

Hudson made history with her entry into the EGOT club. She’s the youngest woman to be inducted into the fraternity, and the youngest Black person with an EGOT to her name.

Ahead of her 41st birthday in 2022, Hudson shared a photo of herself with her Emmy, Grammy, Oscar, and Tony trophies on Instagram. She acknowledged her place in the order of EGOT inductions with a hat bearing the number 17. “Counting down til my birthday!” the award-winning singer and actor said. “In a few days I will be 41 but then again I will always be 17!”