Chadwick Boseman's Wife on Living With Grief: "I Can't Believe That I Was So Lucky"

For the first time since his death in 2020, Chadwick Boseman's wife, Simone Ledward Boseman, is opening up about life after his passing. In an interview with Whoopi Goldberg on "Good Morning America," Ledward Boseman spoke about her marriage to Boseman, the legacy he's left behind, and how she's "making her way through the world without him," as Goldberg explained to her cohosts. "I met this person who is this wonderful man, and he then ended up being a global superstar and really, after 'Black Panther' came out, it did kind of happen overnight," she told Goldberg.

Goldberg asked if, following Boseman's sudden superstardom, the couple worried that his private battle with colon cancer would be made public. But according to Ledward Boseman, things really started to "spiral" with Boseman's health around the peak of the COVID-19 pandemic, which meant his public absences were not drawing too much attention. "It seemed like . . . is this a crazy coincidence that we get to actually be inside?" she remembered.

When Boseman passed away in August 2020, even in her grief, Ledward Boseman knew she had to find a way to keep his legacy alive. "It has been the most challenging two years I've ever had in my life," she said. "Some days, I'm doing worse than I'm really willing to acknowledge, and other days, I'm doing better than I feel comfortable admitting."

Now, she's determined to honor Boseman, pointing to the recently established Chadwick A. Boseman Memorial Scholarship at Howard University, which saw its first scholar graduate this past year. "[We're] taking this mantle, and we are carrying it to as many voices as we can," Ledward Boseman said.

Despite all the hardship Ledward Boseman has gone through, she still considers it a blessing to have experienced a love like the one she had with Boseman. "I can't believe that I was so lucky," Ledward Boseman said with tears in her eyes. "I can't believe that I got to love this person, and I also got them to love me too."