Denzel Washington: I Urged Chadwick Boseman to Marry Simone Ledward

Denzel Washington is revealing the best piece of relationship advice he gave Chadwick Boseman. The two actors grew close while working together on "Ma Rainey's Black Bottom," which was the final film Boseman starred in before passing away in August at age 43 after secretly battling colon cancer.

Only a handful of people knew of the "Black Panther" star's diagnoses and in an interview with CBS Sunday Morning, Washington said he was surprised by Boseman's decision to keep the news to himself. He also recalled knowing that Boseman needed to marry his then-girlfriend, Taylor Simone Ledward, after seeing how she cared for him on the set of the film.

"It's fascinating that nobody knew. Well, credit to him; he kept it to himself. It was nobody's business. He was there to deliver and he delivered," Washington said of Boseman's four-year cancer battle, per People.

"Certain members of his team knew. His wife was there. They weren't even married yet," he continued. "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."

Boseman and Ledward were engaged in October 2019 and secretly tied the knot at an unspecified date, his family revealed at the time of his death. They turned heads at the 2019 Screen Actors Guild Awards when they made their first red carpet appearance together, but it was later that year at the 50th NAACP Image Awards that they really made an impact when, in a moving speech upon receiving the outstanding actor in a motion picture award, Boseman declared his love for Ledward.

"Simone, you're with me every day. I have to acknowledge you right now. Love you," he said

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