Chadwick Boseman’s Widow Reveals Her Private Cancer Remission Amid ‘Black Panther’ Success
Even at the height of The Black Panther mania, Chadwick Boseman and his inner circle were clinging to a very personal victory.
With a moving look on TodaySimone Ledward-Boseman showed what really happened behind the scenes during 2018 – the same year the Marvel blockbuster became a cultural phenomenon.
Speaking to Craig Melvin on Friday, March 20, Simone opened up about her late husband’s private battle with colon cancer, which began in 2016 and is largely unknown to the public.
“It’s been a good year,” Simone shared in 2018, while wiping away tears. “It’s harder to talk about the good times than the bad.”
While audiences around the world celebrated Boseman’s star turn as T’Challa, Simone remembers the moment as filled with both joy and peaceful relief. The couple, who married later in 2020, were taking in the huge success of the film while also marking a personal milestone.
“Yes, Panther came out in February, to see how deep that film was, how profound and how much impact it had on the world, I have no words for it,” said the emotional widow. “He deserved all the success and kids are dressing up like him and people are buying theaters and taking school kids to see this movie, and he’s celebrated everywhere we go.”
“It felt like, you know, they didn’t know we were celebrating that you tested positive, but we were celebrating that too. It felt like we got another chance,” Simone continued.
However, that feeling of hope would be short-lived. Boseman’s cancer returned in 2019, and he died in August 2020 at the age of 43. Throughout his illness, the actor chose not to publicly reveal what he was suffering from.
Looking back on those early days, Simone said she and Boseman were initially optimistic about his illness.
“I think that when he was first diagnosed, we were both sure that he would succeed,” Simone recalled. “It will be a challenging moment, but he will come out on the other side and be ready.”
She added that her husband was “terrified” at the time – but ultimately decided not to let his illness define or hold him back.
That decision to keep her diagnosis a secret, Simone explains, was completely unintentional.
“The most important thing about Chad is the way he lived,” explained Simone. “The fact that he wouldn’t let cancer stop him from what he was going to do here, let it be a lesson.”
Regarding where she is now in her grief, Simone gave a clear view of how loss unfolds over time.
“You know, the edges are getting sharper, I guess, is the best way to put it. There’s still edges.”
During his career, Boseman brought a series of real-life characters to the screen — including Jackie Robinson, James Brown, and Thurgood Marshall — while leaving an indelible mark on the Marvel Cinematic Universe. He later received a posthumous Oscar nomination for his work Ma Rainey’s Black Bottomcementing a legacy that continues to resonate both on and off screen.
