CHICAGO, Ill. --

Chicago is the place where Jennifer Hudson’s rise to stardom began, but it’s also the place where tragedy struck her family.

Now, in an exclusive interview with Access Hollywood’s Shaun Robinson, Jennifer opened up about motherhood, the importance of family and how her mother — her angel — gave her the strength to go home again.

“Do you feel her wherever you are?” Shaun asked.

“Oh my God, yeah. Definitely,” Jennifer said of her late mother, Darnell Donnerson, who was killed in October 2008. “Wherever. Every day I’m like, ‘Wow! I didn’t realize I was so like my mother until now, you know?”

When asked where the strength she has demonstrated throughout the last year has come from, Jennifer said it comes in part – from above.

“First of all, of course, my relationship with faith in God,” Jennifer replied. “[And] the women in my family. Most of all, my mother. She was the strongest person, woman, I’ve ever seen, you know?”

“Your sister Julia – has she been strength for you and [have you been] strength for each other?” Shaun asked.

“Oh yeah, definitely. We’re family. All we have is each other,” Jennifer said.

“And nothing breaks that,” Shaun said.

“Nothing,” Jennifer said as her sister, Julia, wiped away tears while listening to Jennifer speak.

So much love from so much pain. One year after the Hudson family suffered the tragic murders of Jennifer’s mother, brother and nephew – Julia’s son – the remaining family members continue to look ahead. And in that time, Jennifer herself has become a mother.

“How has being a mom changed your life?” Shaun asked.

“Oh wow, well it, of course, is the most amazing thing ever,” Jennifer said of her baby son, David. “But it’s hard to put into words because it’s something you have to experience to understand. I love every minute of it.”

And Jennifer has her fiance, David Otunga Sr., at her side.

The two plan to raise their baby boy surrounded by family.

“Chicago would definitely be it because that is where all the family is,” Jennifer told Shaun. “I feel like he should be surrounded by family. That’s where the biggest support system is and if we live somewhere else, then we will have to bring the family wherever we are.”

And although she is a new mom, Jennifer said she sees at least one more child in their future.

“Maybe one more,” Jennifer said. “I’d like to have at least one more, a little girl. I want a girl and then maybe another one. You know, one baby at a time.”

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