Lupita Nyong'o Pays Tribute to Chadwick Boseman 4 Years After His Death: 'Grief Never Ends'

Mar. 15, 2025

Lupita Nyong’o and Chadwick Boseman n New York City on Feb. 27, 2018.Photo:Shahar Azran/WireImage

Shahar Azran/WireImage

Lupita Nyong’ois honoringChadwick Bosemanfour years after his death.

The actress posted anInstagram tributeto her friend andBlack Panthercostar on Wednesday, Aug. 28, first sharing a black-and-white solo photo of Boseman and then a color snapshot of the two laughing together.

“ ‘Grief never ends. But it changes,’ " Nyong’o, 41, began her caption. " ‘It is a passage, not a place to stay. Grief is not a sign of weakness, nor a lack of faith. It’s the price of love.’ —unknown."

“Remembering Chadwick Boseman. Forever,” she added.

Boseman kept hisfour-year battle with colon cancerprivate even from those he worked with, leaving Nyong’o to describe the aftermath of his death as"a punch to my gut every morning"in an Instagram post she shared weeks after he died.

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Chadwick Boseman in New York City on Feb. 14, 2018.Victoria Will/Shutterstock

“In the end,it was actually very therapeuticbecause I had just experienced not too many years ago the death of Chadwick Boseman, which shook me to my core,” she said in June. “I definitely was thinking about that a lot.”

“What I came to realize is that it’s really important to be reminded of our mortality, because then we live life just a little more intentionally,” the Oscar winner added. “When we think we have all the time in the world, we can really take people for granted and experiences for granted.”

In Marvel Studios' 2018 filmBlack Panther,Boseman portrayed T’Challa, the newly crowned king of the fictional nation Wakanda, while Nyong’o played Nakia, a Wakandan warrior who has a romantic relationship with T’Challa.

She returned for the 2022 sequelBlack Panther: Wakanda Forever,along with much of the cast from the first film and directorRyan Coogler— many of whom paid tribute to Boseman during the press interviews forWakanda Foreverand within the film itself.

Lupita Nyong’o and Chadwick Boseman inBlack Panther(2018).Matt Kennedy/Marvel Studios

Matt Kennedy/Marvel Studios

Nyong’o has posted multiple tributes to Boseman on social media in the years since his death, on occasionslike his 47th birthdayin November 2023.

For the latter post, the actress shared a Polaroid photo of herself, Boseman, theirBlack PanthercostarMichael B. Jordanand Coogler, 38, all posing together. In the caption, Nyong’o explained thatshe took the photoin 2018 while Coogler and theBlack Panthercast were promoting the film in South Korea.

“Marking the birthday of a heroic friend,” she wrote. “I am blessed that his time on this earth coincided with mine.”

source: people.com