Jennifer Hudson became a star with her longtime, regular-guy boyfriend by her side, but, you know, things change. She's now getting married to an I Love New York 2 contestant she's been dating for less than a year. David Otunga, known as Punk on the show, proposed to Hudson Friday, on her 27th birthday. Conclusion: J-Hud is marrying someone who was once so desperate for fame that he pretended to compete for New York's heart in front of millions of television viewers. The end.[People]

Shawn Johnson, the Olympic gymnast who isn't even old enough to vote, and Jennifer Hudson teamed up for a little Pledge of Allegiance/National Anthem action prior to Barack Obama's speech last night. Hudson killed it. The end.

Lucky for Jennifer Hudson — just as her self-titled album and her new move, The Secret Life of Bees are set to hit stores and theaters, Barack Obama has asked her to sing the National Anthem in Denver Thursday before he accepts the presidential nomination. Good choice — but every Obama-shirt wearing R&B singer out there is probably jealous. [MSNBC]

Alicia Keys, Jennifer Hudson, Chiwetel Ejiofor and others put on their formal gear yesterday for a benefit for Keep A Child Alive, Keys' charity for children orphaned by AIDS in Africa.

At long last, Jennifer Hudson is getting that much-awaited music career going. She kicked it off with a video premiere before last night's BET Awards. Not bad.

I read Secret Life of Bees about five years ago, and the fact that the only details I remember are a little white girl, honey, and the South should indicate how much it actually impacted me. But maybe that will make the story all the more exciting when/if I go see the movie in theaters. It stars Dakota Fanning (as the little white girl I remembered!) and Jennifer Hudson (as the little white girl's nanny…it's coming back to me now). Their characters run away from home to stay with three sisters — Queen Latifah, Alicia Keys, and Sophie Okonedo. Poor Fanning and Okonedo must have felt left out, not having a record deal and all.

As for J-Hud — why do her post-Oscar film roles seem to require her to sound kind of slow? But as long as her name's not Louise from St. Louis who's in love with Louis Vuitton, I can't complain. [BV]

Jennifer Hudson looked pretty great at Tuesday's Sex and the City premiere, and it got me thinking about how far she's come since she was on American Idol back in 2004. From then until now, our girl has come a long way.

The big moment for Carrie fans all over the country has arrived — Sex and the City: The Movie has arrived in a flurry of pink carpet and sparkles. The NYC premiere was last night. Jennifer Hudson looks good — she may or may not have let Andre Leon Talley dress her. He was there, though. Of course!

• For some reason, Kelly Rowland just can't understand why Oscar-winner Jennifer Hudson landed the role in the Sex and the City movie that she tried out for. Incidentally, the role was created because, according to Sarah Jessica Parker, "African-American women and women of color have been a big part of our audience for a long time (and) we really haven't been responsible to them." True words. [SB]

• Star Jones has now resorted to hosting Bad Girls Club reunion specials. At least she's good at it. [Jezebel]

• Whitney Houston was cleared of all drug charges stemming from that one time she tried to bring three joints on a plane in Hawaii. [SP]

• New music from Michael Jackson! Sadly, there's no way to make old music from Michael Jackson new again. [Bossip]

• Ashanti made some ill-advised makeup choices at the premiere of the new Indiana Jones. [C&D]

• Sean Patrick Thomas still gets press? Congrats on the baby, SPT. [People]

• It just gets worse and worse with DMX. [Bossip]

• Jennifer Hudson goes back to her singing roots. [SB]

• Ashanti says a little something (emphasis on little) about her relationship with Irv Gotti and Ja Rule. [Str8NYC]

• Kelly Rowland's writing a children's book. Is this what you do when you can't sell records? [EUR]

It's not like Vogue regularly has black people on its cover. Maybe if it did, a lot of would-be critics would shrug off as coincidences the horribly unflattering (and unfair, I think) Jennifer Hudson cover and the latest cover featuring Lebron James and Gisele doing a King Kong and Fay Wray imitation. As it is, many black media and fashion insiders think this is a troubling trend. A handful of experts were polled on the issue by WWD, and most were not amused.

• Roy Johnson, editor in chief of Men's Fitness: "It's a reminder that as African-Americans, we have come very far to have an African-American male featured on the cover of Vogue, but we have very far to go to continue to educate people within our industry regarding the power of images and the potential impact they can have on their readers."

• Helena Andrews, culture editor of Politico.com, contributer to TheRoot.com: "It's not something that people are going to start picketing Vogue for, but it brings up the question of whether people are asking these questions in the editorial meeting of doing the sorts of images that conjure up those sorts of [feelings]. It's clear no one raised their hand during the editorial meeting and said, 'Wait a minute.'" [I'm with Helena -- Lauren]

• Emil Wilbekin, editor in chief of Giant: "That raises my eyebrow as to how African-Americans are portrayed on mainstream magazine covers. You would not show Charlize Theron or Scarlett Johansson screaming."

• Bethann Hardison, modeling and fashion veteran: "Every photograph that they've put of a dark person in recent years has never been good. Jennifer Hudson has her mouth wide open. LeBron James had his mouth wide open. We have other expressions."

• Vogue Spokesperson: "The Shape Issue celebrates athleticism from start to finish. LeBron is on the cover with Gisele because he is a basketball star and he was photographed in that spirit. We think LeBron and Gisele look amazing together on the cover."

It's the most wonderful time of the year… for people in Hollywood who were nominated for Oscars, that is. The Academy Awards were last night, and I am really finding it difficult to pull some Stereohyped-relevant nuggets from last night's telecast, since, if you take out the presenting duties bestowed upon Denzel, JHud, and Forest and the Best Supporting Actress nod for Ruby Dee, the whole thing was pretty white-washed. And Ruby Dee didn't win, in case you hadn't heard. Actually, not a single American won an award for acting last night. There's a lesson in there, somewhere.

Anyway, No Country For Old Men was the winner of the big prize. After the jump, check out more red carpet pics, plus photos from some of last night's Oscar parties.

Get the full list of winners here.

CONTINUED »

• There's got to be some better road for Hillary Clinton to go down than this one. [JJP]

• Black Oscar history: from Hattie McDaniel to Jennifer Hudson. [EW]

• If you don't understand Kanye's "Flashing Lights" video, then you have a serious creativity problem. So says Rita G, the Playboy model who stars in it. [MTV]

• Wisconsin, and Washington, and Hawaii, oh my! [CNN]

Jennifer Hudson has been tapped to join Sanaa Lathaan, Rockmond Dunbar, Alfre Woodard and Kathy Bates in Tyler Perry's new film, The Family That Preys, which is Perry's first film featuring white main characters. The movie will start shooting March 2, directly followed by Madea Goes to Jail. Perry's Meet the Browns is in theaters on March 21. And Perry is rumored to have a role in the new Star Trek film. Busy man.