Chadwick Boseman had successfully kept his illness a secret from the public, but he was already tired and was ready to go, according to his brother.
Chadwick Boseman shocked the world when he passed away in August. The official announcement made on his Twitter revealed that he succumbed to cancer after four years of battle. Many were surprised because they didn’t know he was sick while filming The Black Panther and his other films.
Chadwick Boseman was already tired
In 2016, the Black Panther star was diagnosed with stage III colon cancer. Chadwick Boseman’s older brother Pastor Derrick spoke with The New York Times and recounted his final moments. According to Derrick, Chadwick was already tired.
“[He told me], ‘Man, I’m in the fourth quarter, and I need you to get me out of the game,'” the pastor said as quoted by Page Six.
Derrick asked Chadwick what he meant and realized that the 21 Bridges actor was already tired and “ready to go.” He saw the sign when Chadwick asked him to change his prayer for him.
“When he told me that, I changed my prayer from, ‘God heal him, God save him,’ to ‘God, let your will be done,’” Derrick said.
“And the next day he passed away.”
— Chadwick Boseman (@chadwickboseman) August 29, 2020
Why did Chadwick keep his illness a secret
Although Chadwick Boseman’s illness was a secret to the public, his family and few close friends were aware of his condition. His longtime agent Michael Greene of Greene & Associates Talent Agency, said he kept his illness private party due to the way his mom Carolyn brought him up.
“[She] always taught him not to have people fuss over him,” Greene told The Hollywood Reporter.
“He also felt in this business that people trip out about things, and he was a very, very private person.”
We all can learn a lesson in this… pic.twitter.com/1LyQ67nSJ0
— Loni Love (@LoniLove) September 1, 2020
How Chadwick’s illness affected the others
Several were impressed with Chadwick Boseman’s spirit and courage for choosing to live his life as if he had no health struggles. Robert Downey Jr. pointed out his heroism. According to the Iron Man star, Chadwick “leveled the playing game while fighting for his life.” Both Barack and Michelle Obama also mentioned his heroism.
Meanwhile, Clarke Peters was emotional as he looked back at how he judged Boseman while filming Da 5 Bloods. He thought the fame of Black Panther went into Chadwick’s head because the people around him were fawning over him. Then he later realized they were very attentive to Chadwick because they knew he was sick.
“I regret even having those thoughts because they were really looking after him,” he said while holding back his tears.
Image used courtesy of Gage Skidmore/ CC-BY-SA-2.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0/deed.en)