Michael B. Jordan has opened up on the impact of losing his “Black Panther” co-star Chadwick Boseman, admitting it made him cry often.
In an interview for Vanity Fair’s 27th Annual Hollywood issue published on Tuesday (February 23rd), for which Michael appears on the gatefold cover of the magazine alongside stars Charlize Theron, Zendaya, Sacha Baron Cohen, Michaela Coel, LaKeith Stanfield, Maya Rudolph, Awkwafina and Dan Levy, the “Creed” star shared the loss of Chadwick, who died of cancer last August aged 43, “hurt a lot.”
“Losing Chadwick. Our relationship was a very personal one and had a lot of great moments—some that I couldn’t fully appreciate and fully understand until now, ” the 31-year-old told Vanity Fair when asked what made him cry hardest this year. “I wish I had more time to have our relationship evolve, and grow, and become closer and stronger.”
He continued: “We got a concentrated dose of Chadwick. He did more in his 43 years of life than most people have done in a lifetime. And he was here for the time he was supposed to be here, and he had his impact and his legacy.
“That was clear with the abundance of love that he has gotten from people all over the world. There are generations of kids coming up that look to him. It’s incredible. And losing him was…Yeah, man, it hurt. It hurt a lot. That’s probably what made me cry the most this year.”
As well as praising “Da 5 Bloods” actor for being “an incredible person,” Michael extended it to salute the late star’s wife, Simone Ledward, and his family, describing them as “strong” and “truly special people.”
“He’s an incredible person. His family and his wife are so strong,” he stated. “The people that he had around him are truly special people.
“To keep something like this quiet for so long—our town is nearly impossible to do something like that in. It speaks to the type of person he was, to work as hard as he did into his last moments. It’s truly incredible.”