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"The confusion was so profound that it took months to trust the feeling of joy again," the actress wrote of her Black Panther costar, who died in August 2020 following a private battle with cancer.
Lupita Nyong'o is honoring Chadwick Boseman on the three-year anniversary of his death.
On Monday, the actress took to Instagram to pay tribute to her Black Panther costar, who passed away in August 2020 following a private battle with colon cancer. He was 43.
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View Story"Three years ago today, I experienced a singular pain at the news of @chadwickboseman's death," Nyong'o wrote alongside a black-and-white photo of Boseman. "The confusion was so profound that it took months to trust the feeling of joy again."
"This is a photo I took on film at the airport as we arrived in South Korea in 2018," she continued. "We had just learned to do the baby heart with our fingers. Here Chadwick was adding his suave flare 😊. We spent a glorious 72 hours there, and the memory fills me with so much joy."
"Death is hard to understand, maybe even harder to accept. But the love generated from the life he lived will fuel every anniversary marking his absence," Nyong'o added, before concluding her post, "Chadwick may no longer be in our photos, but he will always be in our hearts."
The Oscar winner starred as Nakia opposite Boseman's T'Challa in Black Panther. The 2018 Marvel film was the first superhero film to ever receive a Best Picture nomination at the Academy Awards.
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Nyong'o reprised her role in the 2022 sequel, Black Panther: Wakanda Forever, which was shot following Boseman's death. The film featured the people of Wakanda mourning the death of Boseman's King T'Challa, while the actors were also grieving the loss of Boseman at the same time.
During an appearance on The Ellen DeGeneres Show in 2021, Nyong'o admitted that it was difficult to think of Boseman in "the past tense" after his death.
"It's still so hard for me to come to terms with his passing," she told DeGeneres. "His leadership. He led the movie with such compassion and just presence. When Chadwick came on set, he was present and he brought his entire being to that movie and he was just so humble as well, you know. That leadership will be missed."
"He was my friend and so it's hard to think of him in the past tense still," she added. "But I do know for certain that he would want us to do this and feel that what [director] Ryan Coogler has planned very much honors him and his legacy."
Because of that, she added, Lupita said she felt "good about going back" to shoot Black Panther: Wakanda Forever.
