Jennifer Hudson never imagined that 'American Idol' would change her life in such a dramatic way

The 'Spotlight hitmaker - who has already won Emmy, Grammy, Oscar, and Tony awards - told PEOPLE: "Sometimes, you just don't know what time you're in until you look back at it. I would've never known, or how could I have ever known, that 20 years ago, making that choice to do 'American Idol' would start such a huge change in my life.

"[I didn't know] that would set my career, that I could sit here and say, 20 years later, I'm still here in the industry."

Jennifer launched her own TV chat show, 'The Jennifer Hudson Show', in 2022, and the singer was always confident that she would make a success of the venture, despite fierce competition from her rivals.

She previously told Variety: "I'm always willing to try. No one can blame you for that.

"I like having the opportunity, and I'm gonna focus on that and let the work speak for me.

"A saying my grandmother used to say, 'You'll understand it better by and by', you know?

"If I based what I could do on other people's thoughts, concerns and comments, I wouldn't be sitting here. What I like to say is, 'No one knows your potential the way you do.' So that's outside noise. That's what I would call it.

"What does it have to do with me and how I think, and what the standards are? I'm going to create my own lane."