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Chadwick Boseman’s widow, Simone Ledward-Boseman, says she is still being guided in life by lessons the late actor taught her.
On Thursday, Nov. 20, Chadwick — who died in August 2020 at age 43 from cancer — was posthumously honored with a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame in Los Angeles.
Simone spoke exclusively with PEOPLE at the unveiling ceremony, recalling how she is “reminded constantly” of a simple, but powerful, piece of advice that Chadwick once shared with her.
“A big one is protecting my energy and not being rushed. Not being rushed and not allowing anyone to rush you. Understanding that everything happens in its time, that you don’t have to respond to that text right now, you don’t have to respond to that email right now,” Simone said.
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“You can center yourself and take the pressure off of being constantly available,” she continued, remembering of Chadwick: “He was fortunate enough to have a really wonderful team that protected his energy, but he had to do a lot of that himself as well.”
Reflecting on the Marshall star’s legacy, Simone, a singer and musician, said it’s a subject she doesn’t think her late husband ever thought much about.
“I think that he thought about the work and what the thing he was working on at that moment was going to mean for the people who would come into contact with it,” she explaind. “I don’t think that he thought about what he was leaving behind from the perspective of himself. I think he really focused on the work, and I think that he does leave behind a legacy of intention and power and purpose.”
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Simone also shared why she chose to bring a pair of Chadwick’s dress shoes to place atop his star — along with a framed photo of the Black Panther actor — at the ceremony.
“I just thought they were beautiful shoes. He wore them often. If you look at the bottom of the soles, you can see just how worn they are. Yeah, I just thought that they were a beautiful pair of shoes,” she said. “They reminded me of a lot of things that he wore, a lot of different looks that he had, and I felt that they would be the best ones to bring today.”
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Simone quietly wed Chadwick in the midst of his private journey with colon cancer in 2020. They first sparked dating rumors in 2015, and later made their red carpet debut as a couple at the 2019 Screen Actors Guild Awards.
That same year, Chadwick gave a sweet shout-out to Simone in his acceptance speech at the NAACP Image Awards. “Simone, you’re with me every day. I have to acknowledge you right now. Love you,” he said, and she mouthed back, “I love you.”
Simone released her debut album, The Mornings, in October 2023. She described it on Instagram at the time as “a letter to my beloved,” and she later told Vibe that she drew inspiration from her late husband while making the album.
“I see signs from Chad all of the time,” she told the outlet. “Sometimes they’re much more subtle, but it’s that process of figuring out how you now embrace this new relationship that you have with this person — one that’s now only a spiritual relationship and how you now communicate with them and [vice versa].”
Simone added that she felt called to be “vulnerable and honest” with her grief and feelings in the songs.
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“Taking everything that I learned and how I was influenced by [Chadwick’s] legacy is how I’m able to move forward and to continue to carry his spirit with me in my own work,” the R&B artist explained to Vibe. “I know that being his wife is a badge that I wear with honor, something that I wear with pride. It is always that honor to represent him in any space.”
