Lupita Nyong’o Says Her ‘Black Panther: Wakanda Forever’ Performance Was Inspired by Chadwick Boseman’s Widow Simone Ledward
usmagazine.comFinding inspiration. In Black Panther: Wakanda Forever, Lupita Nyong’o plays the grieving lover of T’Challa, the character played by the late Chadwick Boseman, but in reality, the actress turned to Boseman’s widow, Simone Ledward Boseman, for inspiration.“It was very hard to lose Chadwick, [but] he was not to me what he was to Nakia,” the Oscar winner, 39, told The Hollywood Reporter in an interview published on Saturday, November 19. “So I couldn’t even imagine what it would be like to go on after losing the love of your life.”Nyong’o explained that she took inspiration from Simone, 32, after seeing her at Chadwick’s memorial service.
The leading man died in August 2020 after battling colon cancer. He was 43.“I remember at his memorial service, bearing witness to Simone … and the strength that she possessed.
I remember being so shocked because I was broken. She was so grounded, she was like an oak,” the actress recalled.Nyong’o continued, “When I was getting ready for Nakia I thought about her a lot.
Because she knew what we did not, in the same way Nakia seems to be a lot wiser and more sage with death and grief than I was.”Black Panther: Wakanda Forever shows that Nakia left Africa years ago, and she didn’t even return for T’Challa’s funeral.
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