(Cover) - EN Showbiz - Jennifer Hudson didn't think she was plus size until she moved to Hollywood.

The 29-year-old star shot to fame in 2004 on American Idol. She has gone on to enjoy chart success and receive critical acclaim for movies such as Dreamgirls.

Jennifer has famously lost a large amount of weight, although admits she didn't realise she was overweight when she first became a celebrity.

"I didn't even know I was considered plus-sized until I came to Hollywood," she confessed to the September issue of Self magazine. "I thought I was the perfect size!"

Jennifer was a US size 16 when she first found fame, and has lost around 80 lbs. in the past few years. The singer grew up in Chicago, where she says the average woman tends to sport a fuller figure.

"An interviewer asked, 'How does it feel to be plus-sized in Hollywood?' I looked around, like, Who is she talking to? Oh, me? I'm plus-sized?'

"In the neighbourhood I'm from in Chicago, a 16 is normal. But in Hollywood, everyone looks exactly the same, so I stood out," she recalled.

Jennifer is mom to two-year-old David, her son with fianc David Otunga. She decided she wanted to shed weight after nobody noticed her baby bump.

"I thought, hold on why doesn't anybody know I'm pregnant?" she mused.

"And I wanted to set a good example for my son." (C) Cover Media