BARBARA WALTERS - HUDSON STILL IN LOVE WITH CHILDHOOD SWEETHEART

DREAMGIRLS star JENNIFER HUDSON has no plans to leave her longtime boyfriend now that she has made it big in Hollywood, because she knows he loves her for her true self. Hudson has been dating childhood sweetheart JAMES PEYTON for seven years and the two are still madly in love. When asked by US journalist BARBARA WALTERS if he has proposed she explains, "Not yet. Maybe one day he will. But that's up to him, because I'm not proposing!" Peyton is a maintenance engineer in Chicago, Illinois and Hudson claims she has no plans to date other men, because he makes her feel secure. She explains, "The difference is, why would I pick somebody new when it's like, 'You don't know me. You just see the Jennifer Hudson that's in Dreamgirls or the Jennifer Hudson from AMERICAN IDOL. "But he knows Jennifer Hudson from years ago, when we were back in seventh, eighth grade." Hudson confirms the sparks are still there even after meeting at such a young age adding, "Yes! And that's how I like it!"