Chadwick passed away just a mere few days ago as he fought a long 4-year battle with stage 3 colon cancer. It was a shock to me, and I believe, a shock to the entire world.
Usually, I’m fairly thick-skinned, it upsets me when a celebrity dies, but this just genuinely hurt in a million different places.
When I heard the news, it was actually via ourselves. The Editor-In-Chief posted the news to our Facebook page. I didn’t actually see it until I woke up, it was the first thing I saw as I unlocked my phone in the morning.
I remember just staring endlessly into my screen, believing that somehow I was just in the middle of a dream, but reality hit harder after disbelief kicked in and I had to check Twitter and Google.
I’ll be honest, I never heard of Chadwick until he played his part in Civil War as Black Panther, and from that point on, I became a huge fan. Following him personally on all social media outlets.
Now, the reason why this hurts, and why this continues to hurt even more is because of everything being released since the death.
The person he was, his heart was filled with kindness, he would give give give and never expected anything in return.
I saw photos of him visiting terminally ill children in hospital, but what we all never knew was that he was battling his own illness. It hurts. It hurts knowing he was suffering, but that was the person he was. He was selfless, and as long as he put a smile on those kids faces, it put a smile on his.
Of course, I never knew him personally, but from what others say about him, I wish I got the chance to meet him.
Reading pretty much every single post from the likes of Chris Evans, Chris Hemsworth, The Russo’s, RDJ, and many, many others hurts.
Reading the text messages he sent to Josh Gad hurts. Reading Ryan Coogler’s statement hurts. It all just hurts, because Chadwick was genuinely such a good guy.
After the passing, I decided to watch 21 Bridges – finally. That hurt too. The movie was fantastic, and I really enjoyed it, but the fact he was suffering all of this whilst filming is just such a shock.
It’s clear his work ethic was second to none. The very fact we all know how gruelling an acting career can be. Working long hours, stunts, lines, constant re-takes and more. He did all of this whilst in reality, he was fighting the toughest battle anyone can ever face.
His performance as Black Panther won many awards and paved the way for a lot of others. He was the first male black lead in an MCU movie, and he nailed every single part of his character. His movie still stands as one of my favourite all-time movies.
His death hurts me more personally, and it’s opened my eyes a bit. Life is so short. We just don’t know where the endpoint is for us. Chadwick was only 43 years young, and taken far too soon. But, God has just gained one of the most finest angels he can get.
I truly believe when he said his line in Civil War; “in my culture, death is not the end” it was true.
Chadwick will be a great loss, and I will never forget the pure kind human being that once beautifully embraced our planet.
Rest in power, King.
