Similar to how he kept his fight with cancer private, Chadwick Boseman also kept his love life almost just as private. According to the Independent, Boseman met and began dating singer Taylor Simone Ledward in 2015, and in the final months of his life, the pair tied the knot.

As reported by Today, the couple was only married a few months before Boseman’s death. However, the pair had been joined at the hip since their relationship began. Though they both stayed out of the public spotlight, the pair could be spotted at some events. When accepting the 2019 NAACP Image Awards that March, Boseman thanked his soon-to-be fiancee at the event. Seven months later, the couple was engaged, as told by Stylecaster.

Ledward graduated from Cal Polytechnic University Pomona in 2014. She majored in music industry studies and sang lead in the school’s jazz band. Originally, the pair kept their relationship private and vague. According to InTouch, Boseman would speak of “a lady” in his life but never used Ledward’s name. After the pair was spotted at the NBA All-Star Game in 2018, it was Ledward’s grandmother who confirmed their relationship. She said of the couple, “she’s very happy, and he is, too.”

Their last public appearance together was at the NBA All-Star Game in February 2020. Unfortunately, because Boseman died without a will, Ledward is battling in court to protect her husband’s assets that range in millions.

In the past, Denzel Washington has discussed his relationship with actor Sidney Poitier, calling the elder black actor a “mentor” and taking his advice when he was an up-an-comer, as told by the Huffington Post. Washington, now the elder black actor, has passed on his knowledge to others, especially Chadwick Boseman, who spoke in 2019 at the AFI Life Achievement Awards honoring Washington.

During a special honoring the late actor, CNN reports, famed actress and Howard University professor Phylicia Rashad told of a time when a group of her students, which included Boseman, auditioned for and was accepted into the British American Drama Academy’s Midsummer program. She called multiple friends and asked to help pay their way. One of the friends who gave money was Washington.

Though the duo never appeared on the big screen together, according to Cinema Blend, Washington served as a producer for Boseman’s final movie and said this while being interviewed for his most recent film, The Little Things. “There’s a whole crop of these younger actors, and it’s fascinating to watch them coming up behind me. Unfortunately, we lost one with Chad Boseman.”

Washington said of Boseman that he was a “gentle soul” and that “he didn’t get cheated. We did. I pray for his poor wife and his family. They got cheated, but he lived a full life,” as told by the Hollywood Reporter. He also recalled watching Black Panther at its premiere with a tear in his eye.

2020 began with a tragic bang with the death of Kobe Bryant in January. Separated by only two years, both men became icons in acting and athletics. As told by Sportscasting, following Bryant’s death in January 2020, Chadwick Boseman recalled a conversation with the retired Bryant about working together in 2020, the year that both men died.

The pair met and spoke for the first time at an Oscar party in 2018. That year, Bryant won for his short film, Dear Basketball. At an Oscar party, as Boseman told on HBO’s The Shop: Uninterrupted, the two spoke about philosophy and poetry, and Boseman proposed they work on a project together. Boseman recalled Bryant’s reaction to his offer (via People), “He looked at me and I saw his eyes go in like he was meditating. He looked up to me and he said, ‘Two years.’ It’s like he saw the whole thing unfold and he was like, ‘I need two years.’ And I walked away and I said to my fiancé, ‘Yo, he is who they say he is.'”

In 2014, Bryant, two years before retiring from the NBA, formed his own company, Kobe Inc. The company produced his Oscar-winning short film, launched a sports drink, and according to Bryant, had many other projects including a series of novels. After his death, along with his daughter and seven others, in a helicopter accident, Boseman tweeted that Bryant was, “Husband, Father, Strategist, Philosopher-Poet, Warrior-Athlete, Filmmaker.”

Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom was the final film featuring Chadwick Boseman. Based on the August Wilson play, the film co-stars Boseman as an overconfident but talented trumpeter named Levee who feuds with singer Ma Rainey, played by Viola Davis. His co-star, Coleman Domingo, recalled an emotional scene between Boseman and his character Cutler.

Speaking to Collider, Domingo recalled the scene where he and Boseman’s character came to blows in the film. Domingo, playing a veteran band member who had acted as a mediator between Levee and Rainey, strikes him after he insulted his religion. Levee attempts to attack Cutler with a knife before turning his anger and knife towards the sky, insulting and demanding God to show his presence. Domingo recalled pushing Boseman in the scene, saying, “I yelled at him, ‘Tell me, tell me, tell me.’ I refused to let him get out of the scene. Whatever was going on with him, I wanted it in this action.”

After the director ended the scene, the two men embraced and cried. Domingo, like the rest of the set, did not know of his co-star’s illness. Director George C. Wolfe also remembered the scene, as told by Cinema Blend. “We were doing it in a very casual way, and I assumed that when Levee got to the big speech that Chadwick was going to stop. But he didn’t stop. He kept going, and Levee took over — it was raw and explosive.”

According to Celebrity Net Worth, Chadwick Boseman was worth $12 million at the time of his death. This comes with little surprise as, from his films as T’Challa in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, each grossed over a billion dollars, including a record of $2.8 billion for 2019’s Avengers: Endgame.

His salary for the first Black Panther film was $2 million, according to the Hollywood Reporter, and it was expected to go up even higher had he filmed a sequel. By comparison, this was four times more than Robert Downey, Jr.’s, salary for 2008’s Iron Man, which began the MCU. By the time of 2012’s Avengers, Downey, Jr., made about $50 million. Stylecaster also reports Boseman’s salary was higher than fellow MCU stars’ Chris Evans and Chris Hemsworth’s first films. Like Downey, Jr., their salaries took a massive increase by the time of their sequels and team group-ups in the Avengers movies.

Unfortunately, Boseman did not leave a will for his wife and family. Because of this, Boseman’s widow, Taylor Simone Ledward, had to file probate documents to have access over part of Boseman’s estate. The estate is estimated to be worth $939,000, though this does not take into account his assets, life insurance, and 401k plans or other retirement accounts.

Boseman’s career was short but left an eternal mark on cinema and pop culture with a series of spectacular performances and iconic characters.