Viola Davis Admits She Judged Chadwick Boseman for Getting Special Treatment

Viola Davis admitted in a recent interview that she judged Chadwick Boseman while they were filming Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom. 

In an interview with The Times published on Saturday, the actress reflected on working with Boseman for the movie. None of the cast knew that he had colon cancer, and Davis admitted that she was wondering why Boseman's girlfriend and makeup artist would rub his back and play meditative music. 

“There was a part of me that was a little judgmental—why do you need all that," Davis said. “Little did I know that they were doing it because he was dying.” 

Boseman died in August 2020 after a lengthy battle with colon cancer. Over the course of his two-decade career, he won a Golden Globe, an Emmy, and a nomination for an Oscar. 

Last year, Lupita Nyong’o posted on Instagram to mourn the loss of Boseman four years after his death. 

She shared two pictures—one of Boseman by himself and another of the two laughing together—along with the caption, “‘Grief never ends. But it changes. It is a passage, not a place to stay. Grief is not a sign of weakness, nor a lack of faith. It’s the price of love,’” she wrote, quoting an “unknown” author.

Nyong’o added, “Remembering Chadwick Boseman. Forever.”

That same year, Nyong’o talked about her experience playing a cancer patient in the film A Quiet Place: Day One and how the role made her reflect on Boseman. 

"In the end, it was actually very therapeutic because I had just experienced not too many years ago the death of Chadwick Boseman, which shook me to my core," N'yongo said. "I definitely was thinking about that a lot."