Singer Jennifer Hudson has credited the gay community for shaping her career.

The 32-year-old Hudson told Michigan gay weekly PrideSource that she isn't sure she would have a career in the music industry without the gay community.

“That's why I recently did a couple of gay clubs, and I wanted to do more because that's where I started,” she said. “I was just literally looking at old pictures a few minutes ago, and I saw a picture of me performing in a gay club and a picture of being dressed. Drag queens used to dress me, and then I would go and perform. That's where I started, so there's definitely a connection there. I wanted to make sure that I reconnected.”

Hudson said joining Macklemore and Mary Lambert during a performance of the hit marriage equality anthem Same Love at last year's MTV Video Music Awards led to questions about her sexual orientation.

“People were like, 'Is Jennifer trying to tell us something?' Hey, I wasn't, but if you wanna think that, it's all right with me,” she said. “When I got the call [to do that performance], I was like, 'Oh my god, I definitely wanna do this. A powerful statement is being made and I wanna be a part of that.'”

Hudson's third studio album, JHUD, is available for pre-order at Amazon.com.