Chadwick Boseman‘s wife opened up two years after the tragic death shocked the world.
Simone Ledward Boseman discussed her husband’s legacy and the two ‘most ‘challenging years of her life in an exclusive interview with Whoopi Goldberg that aired on Good Morning America on Tuesday.
“Some days, I’m doing worse than I’m really willing to acknowledge. Other days, I’m doing better than I feel comfortable admitting,” Ledward Boseman shared in the interview.
According to People, Ledward Boseman shared that a decline in her husband’s health began during the COVID-19 pandemic. The Black Panther alum was going into his fourth year battling colon cancer when he died at 43 in August 2020.
“It seemed like, ‘Is this a crazy coincidence?’ That we get to actually be inside, we get to be here with family, you know, together, and everybody in the world is also experiencing this togetherness in the midst of this awful, scary, unpredictable time,” she reflected.
During the interview, she recalled how tight they kept their circle in a careful attempt to keep his health issues private.
“There was always some level of concern,” she said. “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.”
According to Good Morning America, she was with her late husband for about two years before his diagnosis.
“I think that the hardest thing was wondering if he was going to have enough time to do all the work that he wanted to do because he was very clear on what he needed to do,” she said.
“He was the person everybody went to, and I’m sure that was exhausting for him,” she continued as she reflected on how he was a lifeline for others who looked to him for advice. However, she was aware that her late husband needed answers for himself.
People reported that the former King T’challa actor’s legacy continues through a scholarship created by Howard University, his alma mater.
“We have four scholars. One of them graduated this past year and was very proud to be the first graduating Boseman scholar of the first graduating class of the Chadwick Boseman College of Fine Arts,” she said.
Ledward Boseman said she would continue his legacy, taking the mantle through the scholarship program and expanding it to as many people as possible.