Lupita Nyong’o penned a heartfelt tribute to her Black Panther co-star Chadwick Boseman that will have you wiping your face after you read it. Get into her painfully beautiful tribute to her friend, plus details on Chadwick’s funeral services and more inside….
It’s been almost two weeks since we learned we lost an icon in the making. On August 28th, Chadwick Boseman passed away after a long battle with colon cancer. He was 43.
After news broke about his passing a slew of celebs – including his Black Panther co-stars, former co-stars, athletes, politicians, entertainers – you name it – posted touching tributes to honor his legacy. Everyone felt it. It hit hard. It was unexpected. And the shocking news was too much for Black Panther star Lupita Nyong’o as it took her while to gather her thoughts in order to honor her co-star/friend in the most eloquent way possible.
The Oscar winning actress took to her Instagram to share a touching tribute to the real-life superhero. And we can’t get over how painfully beautiful it is.
"I write these words from a place of hopelessness, to honor a man who had great hope,” Lupita wrote on Instagram attached to a picture of them laughing. “I am struggling to think and speak about my friend, Chadwick Boseman, in the past tense. It doesn't make sense. The news of his passing is a punch to my gut every morning."
If you didn’t know, Lupita played King T'Challa's love interest, Nakia, in the blockbuster film. While she said she hadn’t known him a long time, he will always be in her heart.
"Chadwick was a man who made the most of his time, and somehow also managed to take his time," she wrote. "I didn't know him for long, but he had a profound effect on me in the time that I did. When we came together to make Black Panther, I remember being struck by his quiet, powerful presence. He had no airs about him, but there was a higher frequency that he seemed to operate from. You got the sense that he was fully present and also somehow fully aware of things in the distant future. As a result, I noticed that Chadwick never seemed rushed! He commanded his time with ease."
Although Chadwick had been battling cancer for about two years before Black Panther came out, Lupita said he made sure to show up to "every rehearsal and training and shoot day with his game face on."
"He was absorbent. Agile. He set the bar high by working with a generosity of spirit, creating an ego-free environment by sheer example, and he always had a warm gaze and a strong embrace to share. His large hands would descend on my shoulders and give them a squeeze that relieved me of the tensions I did not realize I was holding. Chadwick's hands were strong enough to carry the weight of the film and free enough to clasp mine when I needed it."
"He cared so deeply about humanity, about Black people, about his people,” she wrote. “He activated our pride. By pushing through and working with such high purpose in the films he chose to commit to, Chadwick has made the infinite his home.” And in a poignant statement she said, “His power lives on and will reverberate for generations to come.”
*tears*
Read her touching tribute in full below:
Beautifully written.
Speaking of his co-stars...
Actor Clarke Peters reminds us why we should always be concious about how we judge others because you never fully know what a person is going through. After the Oscars last year, Clarke went to work with Chadwick on Spike Lee's "Da 5 Bloods." During an interview with "Good Morning Britan," the esteemed actor shared he made some comments about Chadwick that he now regrets.
"I have to say with a little bit of regret that I probably wasn’t the most altruistic in that environment, but hindsight teaches us a lot of things,” he said. "What I'm addressing is, basically, my wife asked what Chadwick was like. I was really excited to work with him. I said, 'I think he's a little bit precious.' And she said, 'Why?' And I said, 'Because he's surrounded by people who are fawning over him.'"
He talked about how Chadwick had a Chinese practitioner, who is massaging his back when he walked off set, he had a makeup lady massaging his feet and his (then) girlfriend was there holding his hand.
"And I'm thinking maybe the Black Panther thing went to his head," Clarke said.
After learning what the treatment was REALLY for, he has regrets.
"I regret even having those thoughts because they were really looking after him,” he said before getting super emotional.
Peep the clip above.
Whew! That def hit home. We all could learn a lesson from that.
While we're all still coming to terms with his untimely death, funeral arrangement have been announced to bury the real-life superhero. The MARSHALL star will be laid to rest in his hometown of Anderson, South Carolina. The actual date has yet to be determined, but it's reported it'll be private.
The "Get On Up" star's funeral arrangements were overseen by the Marcus D. Brown Funeral Home in Chadwick's hometown.
“It’s an honor to make arrangements with this family,” Marcus Brown told WYFF-TV. “I’ve known them for many years, so it’s an honor but it humbles me as well.”
Also, his hometown has begun working on a major statue and murals throughout the city to honor their hometown hero. Before the official funeral, a special tribute was held for the actor in his hometown:
A special memorial service was held Thursday in Anderson at the Anderson Sports & Entertainment Complex. The event, which was free and open to the public, featured speakers including the daughter of James Brown, Deanna Brown-Thomas, and Boseman’s pastor, Samuel Neely.
During the service, Brown-Thomas called Boseman “the epitome of black excellence” and recounted a story in which Boseman visited her family in Augusta, Georgia, ahead of his filming of her father’s biopic.
The mayor of Anderson, Terence Roberts, and Brown-Thomas both described Boseman as humble.
“He wasn’t Hollywood, and that’s what I loved about him,” Brown-Thomas said.
Over the weekend...
Black Panther co-stars Michael B. Jordan, Lupita Nyong'o, and Winston Duke jetted to Malibu for a private memorial to pay their respects to the late actor. The cast hugged one another and also Chadwick's grieving wife Taylor Simone Ledward.
Michael B Jordan and Black Panther co-stars join Chadwick Boseman's wife and family at Malibu memorial for brave actor https://t.co/fhYDmJGlZ4
— Penelope Nankunda (@NankundaPenny) September 6, 2020
You can see pics from the memorial here.
Rest in Power, King!
Photos: Lupita's IG/Featureflash Photo Agency/Shutterstock
source: theybf
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