Chadwick Boseman’s Widow Shares the Mantra He Left Her — & Anyone Stretched Too Thin Will Feel It: ‘You Don’t Have to Rush’

There’s something almost revolutionary about being told you don’t need to respond to that text, that email, or that Slack message right this second. For anyone living in the constant ping-ping-ping of modern life — especially those who hold their families, jobs, and group chats together — the permission to slow down instead of constantly teetering on burnout is rarer than it should be. And according to Chadwick Boseman’s widow, Simone Ledward-Boseman, it was one of the clearest lessons her late husband left her.

At the unveiling of Boseman’s Hollywood Walk of Fame star on Nov. 20, Simone told People that she still hears his reminder daily. “A big one is protecting my energy and not being rushed,” she said. “You don’t have to respond to that text right now, you don’t have to respond to that email right now… You can center yourself and take the pressure off of being constantly available.”

It’s strikingly simple advice — and maybe that’s why it lands the way it does. Anyone who’s ever tried to keep up with work, home, and the steady stream of notifications knows how draining constant access can be. So when Simone names it directly and gives permission to slow down, it hits in a very real way.

Simone explained that the Black Panther star lived by this boundary even while carrying an extraordinary workload. “He was fortunate enough to have a really wonderful team that protected his energy,” she said, “but he had to do a lot of that himself as well.” Coming from someone who filmed Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom, Da 5 Bloods, Marshall, and more while privately managing colon cancer, his insistence on slowing down becomes even more profound.

This isn’t the first time Simone has stepped into a moment like this. At the 2021 Golden Globes, she accepted Boseman’s Best Actor award for Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom. Her closing reminder to “take all the moments to celebrate those we love” became one of the most talked-about lines of the night. She also released her debut album in 2023, calling it “a letter to my beloved,” and citing it as a means of working through the grief of losing him.

A lot has shifted for Simone over the years, but that piece of advice shows up again and again. Plenty of people know what it’s like to feel rushed by every new notification, and her returning to his words signals something important: it’s OK to slow down before you respond: “You don’t have to rush.”

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Before you go, click here to see celebrities who found love after the death of a partner.