AceShowbiz - Oscar winning singer/actress Jennifer Hudson broke down in tears on U.S. TV on Thursday, February 10 as she recalled the grief that she went through after her mother, brother and nephew were shot dead in October 2008.

The former husband of Hudson's sister has been charged with the slayings, and in a raw TV interview with Oprah Winfrey, the "Dreamgirls" star admitted she still doesn't know if she has started to heal after the tragedy.

Desperately trying to hold back tears, the star revealed her mother's memory has been her strength - and now she considers what her late mother would say before she does anything. Hudson told Winfrey, "I try to do everything to say, 'OK, will my mother like this? Will she be pleased? Will she be proud of that? How do I know she's happy and she's smiling down at me from heaven?. That's what I try to go by and walk by."

The bodies of her mother, Darnell Hudson Donerson, and brother, Jason Hudson, were found in the family's Chicago, Illinois home. The remains of her seven-year-old nephew, Julian King, was found days later in the trunk of a sports utility vehicle.