‘Today’: Chadwick Boseman’s Widow Reveals He Was Cancer-Free Before it Returned

As National Colorectal Cancer Awareness Month comes to a close, Chadwick Boseman‘s widow, Simone Ledward Boseman, sat down with Today‘s Craig Melvin for a rare TV interview.

Two years after the couple met in 2014, Chadwick was diagnosed with stage 3 colon cancer. “I think when he was initially diagnosed, we both felt very sure that he would make it through,” Simone shared in a prerecorded conversation aired on the Friday, March 20, episode of Today. “It was gonna be a challenging moment, but something that he would come out on the other side of and be fine.”

“Was he scared?” Melvin asked, to which she replied, “Of course.”

As for why Chadwick chose to keep his diagnosis a secret? “When so many eyes are on you, I think you want to keep things generally more private,” Simone explained. “And Chad was not a person that would have wanted to be treated any differently because people knew that he was sick.”

Simone went on to describe 2018 as a “ beautiful year.” Not only did the release of Marvel’s Black Panther launch Chadwick into superstardom, but 2018 was also the year the actor found out he was in remission.

“He’s just being celebrated everywhere we go,” Simone recalled. “They didn’t know that we were celebrating that he had a clear scan, but we were celebrating that, too. It felt like we got another chance.”

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However, Chadwick’s cancer returned more aggressively later that year. The couple got engaged in 2019 and tied the knot during a “small ceremony” in 2020. Chadwick died of complications from his stage 4 cancer at the age of 43 in August 2020.

“You said you want to make sure that he’s remembered for the work and not the cancer. Why not both?” Melvin — who lost his older brother, Lawrence Meadows, to colon cancer in December 2020 — questioned. Simone stated, “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.”

Simone further opened up about Chadwick’s cancer journey in more quotes from her interview with Melvin shared on Today.com. “I didn’t know that he was experiencing anything until he had already been to the doctor twice,” she shared, noting that Chadwick was not at the screening age to undergo a colonoscopy at the time. “It all seemed to come about very suddenly. It was a matter of weeks that he started not feeling well.”

Reflecting on her own grief journey, Simone stated, “The edges get less sharp, I think, is the best way to put it. There are still edges and there are still a lot of painful moments. But I think it becomes easier to find the love in those moments, as well. You become more accustomed to carrying the weight of grief. But it doesn’t go away.”

Today, Weekdays, 7a/6c, NBC

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