Chadwick Boseman’s widow believed he would ‘make it through’ cancer fight

(NewsNation) — The late actor Chadwick Boseman’s widow is opening up about the loss of her husband to colon cancer, getting emotional while reflecting on his death.

Simone Ledward-Boseman sat down with the “Today” show’s Craig Melvin to raise awareness about the disease.

Boseman was diagnosed with Stage 3 colon cancer in 2016.

“It was a beautiful year,” Ledward-Boseman said about 2018. “It’s harder to talk about the good times than it is the bad.”

“Black Panther” hit theaters in February 2018, becoming a massive success for Disney/Marvel.

The Boseman-led movie, in which he played T’Challa, aka the titular Black Panther, earned over $700 million domestically, with a worldwide total of $1.3 billion.

SANTA MONICA, CA – JUNE 16: Actor Chadwick Boseman attends the 2018 MTV Movie And TV Awards at Barker Hangar on June 16, 2018 in Santa Monica, California. (Photo by Emma McIntyre/Getty Images for MTV)

In this video grab provided by the SAG Awards, Simone Ledward Boseman, wife of the late Chadwick Boseman, accepts the award for outstanding performance by a male actor in a leading role for “Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom” on his behalf during the 27th annual Screen Actors Guild Awards on April 4, 2021. (SAG Awards via AP)

FILE – In this Saturday, March 30, 2019 file photo, Chadwick Boseman poses in the press room with the award for outstanding actor in a motion picture for “Black Panther” at the 50th annual NAACP Image Awards at the Dolby Theatre in Los Angeles. Actor Chadwick Boseman, who played Black icons Jackie Robinson and James Brown before finding fame as the regal Black Panther in the Marvel cinematic universe, has died of cancer. His representative says Boseman died Friday, Aug. 28, 2020 in Los Angeles after a four-year battle with colon cancer. He was 43. (Photo by Richard Shotwell/Invision/AP, File)

“Yeah, ‘Panther’ came out in February, to see how deeply, deeply and globally impactful that film was, I just don’t have any words for it,” his widow shared.

She added, “He was just so deserving of all the success, and kids were dressing up like him, and people are buying out theaters and taking school kids to watch this film, and he’s just being celebrated everywhere we go.”

Chadwick Boseman’s cancer returned

In addition to the movie’s success, the Bosemans were celebrating that he received a clear cancer scan.

“It felt like we got another chance,” Ledward-Boseman said.

The actor’s cancer returned in 2019, and he died August 2020 of Stage 4 colon cancer.

The “42” actor decided to keep his cancer journey private.

“I think when he was initially diagnosed, we both felt very sure that he would make it through,” Ledward-Boseman said, explaining why they decided to keep the diagnosis secret. “It was gonna be a challenging moment, but something that he would come out on the other side of and be fine.”

She added, “What’s more important about Chad is the way that he lived. The fact that he wouldn’t let cancer get in the way of what he was here to do, let that be the lesson.”

© The Hill

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