Chadwick Boseman: Lupita Nyong’o pays emotional tribute to Black Panther co-star

‘I am struggling to think and speak about my friend, Chadwick Boseman, in the past tense,’ Nyong’o wrote

Lupita Nyong’o has shared an emotional tribute to the late actor Chadwick Boseman, who died last month of colon cancer.

The actor, who starred alongside Boseman in Marvel’s Black Panther, posted a picture of herself and Boseman hugging and laughing to Instagram on Tuesday (8 September).

“I write these words from a place of hopelessness, to honor a man who had great hope,” Nyong’o wrote in the lengthy post. “I am struggling to think and speak about my friend, Chadwick Boseman, in the past tense. It doesn’t make sense.”

Describing his death as “a punch to my gut every morning”, the actor continued: “Chadwick was a man who made the most of his time, and somehow also managed to take his time… 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. Chadwick’s hands were strong enough to carry the weight of the film and free enough to clasp mine when I needed it.”

Nyong'o (centre), with Boseman (right) and Danai Gurira (Getty Images for The Hollywood R)

Nyong’o ended with the comment: “We are all charged by his work… by his presence in our lives. His power lives on and will reverberate for generations to come. He used his life force to tell meaningful stories. And now we tell his.”

She then explained that she would be “taking her time” to come to terms with Boseman’s death, which she described as “something that I can neither take in nor take in my stride”.

The post follows after Nyong’o and her Black Panther co-stars joined Boseman’s family at a private memorial in Malibu earlier this week.

Boseman was 43 when he died, having kept his diagnosis secret from his colleagues for many years.