Denzel Washington revealed in an interview with CBS Sunday Morning that he urged Chadwick Boseman to marry his then-girlfriend Taylor Simone Ledward when he witnessed the chemistry between the two on the set of what will become Boseman’s last film, Netflix’s Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom.
According to Washington, no one on set knew the actor was suffering from stage 4 colon cancer but the care and affection which Ledward exuded on set clearly showed the love the pair shared.
“Certain members of his team knew. His wife was there. They weren’t even married yet,” Washington said. The couple was dating at the time.
“And I used to watch how she took care of him, and I actually said to him, I said, ‘Man, you know, you need to put a ring on that finger,’ cause she kept her eye on him and she watched him. And I’m like, ‘Man, she loves that guy.’ You know, but I didn’t know what we know now.”
Washington said “it’s fascinating that nobody knew,” of Boseman’s battle with cancer. “Well, credit to him; he kept it to himself. It was nobody’s business. He was there to deliver, and he delivered.”
Boseman had tied the knot with his long-time girlfriend Ledward before he died of cancer in August at age 43.
Though they never publicly announced their marriage, a statement posted by his team on social media following his death said the Black Panther star died “with his wife and family by his side.”
The People reports that the couple were first spotted together in 2015 before getting engaged in October 2019. After dating Boseman for four years, she is believed to have married the Marvel superhero in a private ceremony before his health deteriorated.
Boseman’s widow now has the authority to administer her late husband’s estate, People reported last month. Ledward is currently the personal representative with limited authority of the late actor’s $938,500 estate, a court order obtained by the magazine said.
