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The world was shocked last weekend when news came out that Black Panther star Chadiwick Boseman had died, and it was revealed that he had been battling colon cancer for the last four years. While his condition was kept under wraps all this time, Boseman actually had an interview back in 2017 where he hinted at his medical condition.
This exchange with the Huffington Post from 2017 had been brought up by fans recently, since at this time, Boseman had already been diagnosed with colon cancer:
HP: YOU CAME OFF OF ONE BLACK PANTHER PROJECT, DID “MARSHALL” AND THEN MADE ANOTHER BLACK PANTHER MOVIE. DID YOU BULK UP, SLIM DOWN AND THEN BULK UP AGAIN?
BOSEMAN: [Nods his head, looking exhausted] Right. Yeah, yeah, yeah.
HP: YOU’VE BEEN THROUGH THE WRINGER.
BOSEMAN: Oh, you don’t even know [laughs]. You have no idea. One day I’ll live to tell the story.
We don’t really know why his condition was kept a secret, but it was likely that Boseman didn’t want anyone feeling sorry for him as he still had the strength to do more films despite treatment. You have to realize that after his diagnosis, he was still able to shoot Black Panther, Avengers: Infinity War and Endgame, Marshall, Da 5 Bloods, and Netflix’s upcoming 21 Bridges. Now Boseman’s last movie will be Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom which stars Viola Davis and is set to hit Netflix later this year.
Boseman’s death was surely a shock to several fans, and a lot of black kids had just literally lost their superhero. Boseman has definitely left a large hole in pop-culture, and nobody knows how it can be filled.
