Simone Ledward Boseman sat down for her first formal interview since the ’Black Panther’ actor died following a secret four-year battle with colon cancer in August 2020, and she explained her late spouse’s health began to "spiral" during the Covid-19 pandemic.

Appearing on ’Good Morning America’, she said: "It has been the most challenging two years I’ve ever had in my life.

"It was Covid, when things were really starting to spiral. And that meant that everybody was in their house, and there was no pressure for anybody to go outside.

"It seemed like, ’Is this a crazy coincidence that we get to actually be inside, that we get to be here with family - together?

“And everybody in the world is also experiencing this togetherness in the midst of this awful, scary, unpredictable time?’ We kept that circle real - our circle was basically a dot."

Simone admitted she has a lot of ups and downs in her grief.

She said: "Some days, I’m doing worse than I’m really willing to acknowledge. Other days, I’m doing better than I feel comfortable admitting."

But above all else, she will always feel "lucky" to have had Chadwick - who she met in 2014 and married before he passed away - in her life for even a short time.

Taylor Simone Ledward and Chadwick Boseman. Picture: Bang Showbiz
She tearfully said: "I can’t believe that I was so lucky. I can’t believe that I got to love this person. And I also got them to love me too."

The “Get On Up” actor’s legacy lives on in the form of a scholarship created in his name at his former college, Howard University - which has renamed its fine arts department in honour of the late star - and Simone is very "proud" of the students.

She said: "We have four scholars. One of them graduated this past year and was very proud to be the first graduating Boseman scholar of the first graduating class of the Chadwick Boseman College of Fine Arts.

"We are taking this mantle, and we are carrying it to as many voices as we can."

AE News