Sharkpixs/ZUMAPressHundreds of mourners lined the street in front of Pleasant Gift Missionary Baptist Church in Chicago to mourn the loss of the three slain family members of Jennifer Hudson.
While Hudson did not attend the public memorial, she was clearly on the minds of many who came to the church.
"She has been doing good," Demitrias Jackson, a cousin to the Oscar winner, told E! News. "She's very strong and she's holding the family together."
For now, Jackson says Hudson is putting her career on the back burner to support her family.
"She is going to take a break from acting," Jackson said. "She'll be taking time for herself and to be with her family."
Relatives weren't the only ones who came out for the memorial held on the city's South Side. Friends, neighbors and well-wishers came to pay their respect to the Hudson family.
"I came here because I had a mother and a son die so I have been hit by a double tragedy as well," local resident Alice Ghant said. "For Jennifer to have all that success and than have this happen, makes me cry."
Ghant wanted to show her support for the whole Hudson family and offered them advice for their trying times: "Keep your head up and it will get better with prayer faith and time."
Joseph Murphy, who says he worked as a security guard for Jennifer in 2006, said he's praying for the Hudsons.
"The reports of Jennifer being the strength of the family are definitely true," Murphy said. "I contacted her through MySpace to tell her I'm always praying for her."
Chicago residents were lined up an hour before the doors for the memorial opened up. People prayed inside and outside of the church. People left flowers, cards and even a teddy bear inside of the church for the three murdered members of the Hudson family.