For the first time since the actor’s death, Chadwick Boseman’s widow, Simone Ledward Boseman, honored him publicly at the 30th annual IFP Gotham Awards Monday night. In a tearful and moving tribute to her husband, she accepted the Gotham Awards Tribute prize on his behalf. “He is the most honest person I’d ever met,†she said. “He actively searched for it, in himself, those around him and the moment. The truth can be a very easy thing for the self to avoid. But if one does not live in truth, then it’s impossible to live life.â€
“So it became how he lived his life, day in and day out,†she continued. “Imperfect but determined. He was blessed to live many lives within his concentrated one. He developed his understanding of what it meant to be the one, the none and the all. ‘A vessel to be poured into and out of,’ he’d said.†Boseman died in August 2020 at the age of 43. He had been privately struggling with colon cancer for four years, unknown to his co-stars and collaborators on Black Panther, Da Five Bloods, or Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom, his final posthumous film. Toward the end of her emotional speech, Ledward Boseman cried and spoke directly to her husband. “Chad, thank you. I love you. I am so proud of you. Keep shining your light on us.â€