U.S. actress and television personality Rosie O'Donnell is using the triple homicide of Jennifer Hudson's family members to discuss domestic violence.
Hudson's mother, brother and 7-year-old nephew were shot to death in Chicago Friday. Police are talking to her sister's estranged husband about the slayings. He is being held on an alleged parole violation, but he has not been charged in the Hudson family shootings.
"The family tragedy of Jennifer Hudson -- no words will do -- a grief too hard to comprehend," Usmagazine.com quoted O'Donnell as saying on her Web site.
"Guns and domestic violence are a lethal combination -- injuring and killing women every day in the United States," she added. "A gun is the weapon most commonly used in domestic homicides. In fact, more than three times as many women are murdered by guns used by their husbands or intimate acquaintances than are killed by strangers' guns, knives or other weapons combined. Contrary to many public perceptions, many women who are murdered are killed not by strangers but by men they know."
O'Donnell used to have her own television talk show and was a moderator on "The View."