Jennifer Hudson was smacked in the face with a basketball — and crashed into by a New York Knicks player — while she and her boyfriend, Common, sat courtside at an NBA game Tuesday.
The “Spotlight” singer and the “Just Wright” actor enjoyed a date night at Madison Square Garden in New York City to watch the home team take on the Golden State Warriors.
During the second quarter, Knicks star Miles McBride went for a steal attempt along the sideline where Hudson, 43, and Common, 52, sat.
McBride was only able to touch part of the ball before it went right into the talk show host’s face as Common, whose real name is Lonnie Lynn, attempted to shield it from his girlfriend.
The point guard, 24, then came crashing into Hudson as well.
“Protect Jennifer Hudson at all costs!” the sports commentator said as the “American Idol” alum could be seen taking off her glasses and checking them to see if they had broken.
“Oh no, not the glasses,” a second commentator said. “Those look real expensive, too.”
Despite the incident, the couple appeared to have a great night out.
Hudson looked casual in a pair of blue jeans, a white shirt, a black trench coat and white-and-black sneakers, while Common rocked a blue-and-white tracksuit with white sneakers.
Romance rumors about the “Dreamgirls” actress and the “Chi” star began surfacing in February 2022 when they were spotted together in Philadelphia and their mutual hometown of Chicago.
The following November, Hudson confirmed she and Common were officially dating.
“I am very happy, yes ma’am,” she told Gayle King on “CBS Mornings” at the time, adding that her relationship status was “more sophisticated than boo’ed up.”
When co-host Nate Burleson asked the EGOT winner whether her romance with the “Come Close” rapper was an “entanglement,” she replied, “It’s definitely not an entanglement, that’s for sure.”
In January 2024, Common gushed about how “happy” he was in his relationship with Hudson when he was a guest on “The Jennifer Hudson Show.”
“Now, we gotta get down to business, Mr. Common. I’m a host, and so I have to ask you this question ’cause everybody always wanna know this — are you dating anyone?” she asked him at the time.
Common coyly replied, “I’m in a relationship that is with one of the most beautiful people I ever met in life. She’s smart, she loves God, she has something real down-to-earth about her, she’s talented.
“But I set my standard kind of high because she had to have an EGOT. She had to win an Oscar on her first movie. I set my stand high. She had to get her own talk show.”
Hudson is a mom to son David Daniel Otunga Jr., 15, whom she shares with her ex-fiancé, former WWE star David Otunga.
As for Common, he was previously linked to a slew of A-listers, including Serena Williams, Tiffany Haddish and Taraji P. Henson.
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