‘He was a leader and a king’: Chadwick Boseman’s widow Simone sobs as she describes how ‘lucky she was to love him’ – while opening up about the Black Panther star’s decision to keep his cancer battle a secret
- Simone, 31, sat down with The View host, 66, to discuss Chadwick’s secret fight with colon cancer and how she has dealt with the tragic loss
- The Black Panther star passed away after a four year battle with the disease in August 2020 at age 43; he and Simone started dating five years earlier, in 2015
- Simone said she was ‘so lucky’ to ‘love’ Chadwick, and said that the actor choosing her to ‘be by his side’ was ‘the greatest blessing’
- The 31-year-old said her husband stayed ‘authentic’ to himself until the very end, adding that his ‘perseverance, dedication, patience, and grace’ never wavered
- She also spoke out about his decision to hide his diagnosis with the world, explaining that they had to be ‘very, very careful’ with who they trusted
- While she admitted that the last two years have been ‘the most challenging years she’s ever had,’ she said she ‘imbues Chad’s spirit in everything that she does’
Chadwick Bosemen’s widow Simone Ledward Boseman broke down in tears as she gushed about how ‘lucky’ she was to ‘love’ the actor, and opened up about his decision to hide his four-year-long battle with cancer during a heart wrenching new interview with Whoopi Goldberg.
Simone, 31, sat down with The View host, 66, to discuss her and Chadwick’s five-year romance – including how they met and the moment he made the first move on her – in an interview with Good Morning America, as well as his secret fight with colon cancer, how they kept it hidden from the world, and she has dealt with the tragic loss – two years after he died at age 43.
‘I can’t believe that I was so lucky, I can’t believe that I got to love this person,’ she told Whoopi as she chocked up. ‘And I also got him to love me too.’
Simone, who worked at the Hollywood Bowl, first met the Black Panther star in 2014, when he attended a James Brown tribute concert at the venue. And according to Simone, he made it known that he was interested in her pretty much right away.
‘We were on the side of the stage at a certain point, and I guess he didn’t know if I was really catching his hints. And he just randomly bent down and untied one of my shoelaces … as a little joke’ she recalled.
Chadwick Bosemen’s widow Simone Ledward Boseman broke down in tears as she gushed about how ‘lucky’ she was to ‘love’ the actor during a heart wrenching new interview
Simone, 31, sat down with The View host Whoopi Goldberg, 66, to discuss her and Chadwick’s five-year romance and how she has dealt with the tragic loss
‘I can’t believe that I was so lucky, I can’t believe that I got to love this person,’ she told Whoopi as she chocked up. ‘And I also got him to love me too’
‘And I said, “Oh, OK, so this is flirting, this is him flirting with me.” And then he got back down and said, “Oh, I’m sorry.” He got back down, and he retied my shoelace.’
She added that she ‘fell for him pretty quickly,’ after she ‘came to a realization that she could trust him,’ and that she was drawn to his ‘thoughtfulness.’
‘He was so intentional,’ she gushed. ‘He did not go into anything with his eyes closed.
The Black Panther star (seen in 2018) passed away after a four year battle with the disease in August 2020 at age 43
‘And I knew that I could follow him off the edge of a cliff because he’s got a plan, you know?
‘I think when I really realized that, it was like, “OK. This is it. We’re not going anywhere. I’m in it. He’s in it.”
‘He was just the smartest, most caring, most genuine, most just real, authentic, truth in everything – like nobody that I had ever met.’
They got engaged in October 2019, and married in secret sometime before his death in August 2020.
And while he had already starred in a slew of movies and TV shows when they met, like Lincoln Heights, Persons Unknown, and Get on Up, she recalled him becoming a ‘global superstar’ practically ‘overnight’ after he starred in Marvel’s Black Panther in 2018.
‘I met this person who was this wonderful man, and he then ended up being a global superstar,’ she said. ‘After Black Panther came out, it did kind of happen overnight.’
And according to Simone, he was much more than an actor. She continued: ‘Sure, he was an actor… but he was an artist.
‘He was an artist, and he was a leader and he was a king. And that I got to be by his side for that – that he chose me to be by his side for that is just – it’s the greatest blessing.
‘Even with the pain of his loss, now I still get to have this beautiful spirit relationship with him.
Simone, who worked at the Hollywood Bowl, first met the Black Panther star in 2014, when he attended a James Brown tribute concert at the venue. They are seen in February 2019
Simone added that she ‘fell for him pretty quickly.’ She gushed: ‘He was just the smartest, most caring, most genuine, most real, authentic [person]’
Simone called it the ‘greatest blessing’ that she ‘got to be by his side’ and that he ‘chose her’ to be his partner
‘And that, while it’s difficult to accept, is also beautiful because he’s an ancestor now. He is and he is never leaving me.’
While the movie star was at the height of his career, he was secretly battling colon cancer; he was diagnosed in 2016, but no one outside of his close knit circle knew that he suffered from the disease until his death four years later.
And according to Simone, they had to be ‘very, very careful’ in order to keep it a secret from the world.
‘There was always some level of concern, but we really do have a very, very trusted circle of people that were there to support him, and support me, and help us, you know, do the best that we could with the challenging time,’ she said.
She said Chadwick never liked to let anyone ‘see him sweat,’ but that his internal struggles were sometimes worse than his physical ones.
‘I think that like any human person, we all have fear, we all have doubt – we want to know that we’re doing the right thing,’ she explained.
‘And I think that there were a lot of times for him where he felt like he didn’t have someone that could give him the answers.
‘But that is really a lifelong lesson in knowing that the answers don’t exist outside of yourself – that you’re the only one with the answers.’
While the movie star (seen in 2019) was at the height of his career, he was secretly battling colon cancer; he was diagnosed in 2016, but kept it hidden from the public until his death
While nobody knew that he was suffering from cancer, fans did start to worry about the actor after he did an Instagram Live in August 2020 – and they noticed his face looked a lot slimmer
Simone said her husband stayed ‘authentic’ to himself until the very end, adding that his ‘perseverance, dedication, patience, and grace’ never wavered
She added that his biggest fear was ‘wondering if he was going to have enough time to do all the work he wanted to do.’
She said he also felt immense pressure since so many people looked up to him – including his fans and his friends, too.
‘He knew how many people depended on him for his advice – he was the person everybody went to, and I’m sure that was exhausting for him,’ said Simone.
Arguably Chadwick’s most famous role was when he played King T’Challa in Black Panther, making him the first ever black superhero in the Marvel Cinematic Universe; and Simone called it ‘an immense point of pride’ in his life.
‘Especially then feeling like, “Well, and then all these people get to come to me, and then I need answers too.”
‘And when you go in prayer for answers, it’s not always straightforward. Then you have to decode and you have to do the work of figuring out what the signs mean. That is a hard road.’
Arguably Chadwick’s most famous role was when he played King T’Challa in Black Panther, making him the first ever black superhero in the Marvel Cinematic Universe; and Simone called it ‘an immense point of pride’ in his life.
Simone’s interview comes just weeks before the second Black Panther movie, entitled Black Panther: Wakanda Forever, hits theaters – which is set to come out on November 11 – and she said she was happy that people will ‘continue to be inspired’ by the story.
‘I think that when one group of people is lifted up, that it creates space for another group of people to be lifted up. And then another and another,’ she explained.
She said ‘things were started to spiral’ regarding his health around the same time that the COVID-19 pandemic hit in early 2020 – which made it easier for them to hide his illness.
‘It was COVID when things were really starting to spiral and that meant that everyone was in their house,’ she explained.
‘There was no pressure for anyone to go outside. It seemed like, was this a crazy coincidence that we get to be inside and be here with family, together, and everyone in the world is also experiencing this togetherness in the midst of this awful and scary unpredictable time?
Simone’s interview comes just weeks before the sequel, entitled Black Panther: Wakanda Forever, hits theaters. Letitia Wright (left) and Lupita Nyong’o (right) are seen at the premiere
‘He was so pure. He was so honest in everything. And he was so deserving because he was all of that no matter who was watching him,’ gushed Simone
While she admitted that the last two years have been ‘the most challenging years she’s ever had,’ she said she ‘imbues Chad’s spirit in everything that she does.’ They are seen in 2019
‘Some days I’m doing worse than I’m really willing to acknowledge and some days I’m doing better than I’m comfortable admitting,’ she admitted. ‘The grief really moves in’
‘It really reduced that risk of – you have to be out, you have to go do this … It reduced that for us.’
While nobody knew that he was suffering from cancer, fans did start to worry about the actor after he did an Instagram Live in August 2020 – and they noticed that his face looked a lot slimmer than normal.
‘I hope you’re OK, your appearance has changed,’ one person commented at the time, while another said, ‘I didn’t recognize him at first. I’m not liking this weight loss bro.’
At the time, some theorized that his weight loss was due to a possible role.
Simone said her husband stayed ‘authentic’ to himself until the very end, adding: ‘Everything that you see is everything that he is.
‘The amount of just perseverance, and dedication, and patience, and grace it takes to do what he did, the way that he did, while maintaining himself and not allowing his heart to be tainted, it really … he was just so good.
‘He was so pure. He was so honest in everything. And he was so deserving because he was all of that no matter who was watching him.’
Before he passed away, Simone recalled speaking to Chadwick about his ‘legacy.’ She said he was determined to help kids, so they decided to set up a scholarship that helps incoming students cover the cost of tuition at Howard University; the school also renamed its College of Fine Arts after him.
‘We don’t have any children, and we were really faced with this question of, you know, legacy – and how we continue to build on his ideas and his ideals and the uplifting of the community,’ she said.
While Chadwick’s widow admitted that the last two years have been ‘the most challenging years she’s ever had,’ she said she ‘imbues Chad’s spirit in everything that she does.’
‘Some days I’m doing worse than I’m really willing to acknowledge and some days I’m doing better than I’m comfortable admitting,’ she admitted. ‘The grief really moves in.’
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