Respect

DID YOU KNOW THAT ARETHA FRANKLIN HAD HER FIRST BABY AT AGE 12?

Jennifer Hudson and Forest Whitaker started filming Respect in New York – she plays Aretha Franklin and he plays her father, the popular Baptist minister Clarence Franklin. We can’t help but wonder HOW detailed this sordid bio will be. Clarence was known to be highly promiscuous and, in fact, had a baby with a 12 year old member of his congregation – with NO apparent repercussions! Aretha went on to have HER first baby at 12 also, (named Clarence!) supposedly with a school friend – she actually had TWO children with different fathers before she was fifteen! THAT’s just the beginning – this is going to be a startling life story!

Photo Credit: BACKGRID-USA

ARETHA FRANKLIN INSISTED THAT JENNIFER HUDSON PLAY HER IN LIFE STORY

This is an early peek at Jennifer Hudson playing Aretha Franklin in the biographical drama Respect now filming in Harlem. (Actually Aretha herself was involved in getting the movie made up until she died last year.) Jennifer is filming a scene set in the 1960’s with Marlon Wayans, who plays her first husband Ted White, described as “the slickest pimp in Detroit.” Aretha married him when she was only nineteen and he became her manager. Jennifer and Marlon were about to film a scene in a car where her feet don’t show – that’s why she can get away with wearing those Ugg booties…

Photo Credit: BACKGRID-USA