Simone Ledward Boseman, the wife of Chadwick Boseman, sat down with Whoopi Goldberg in her first interview since the death of her husband. On Tuesday (Nov. 1), Simone opened up about meeting him, his private battle with cancer, and the last two years of her life that she calls “most challenging.”

“I met this person who is this wonderful man, and he then ended up being a global superstar, and really after Black Panther came out, it did kind of happen overnight,” she said. “I can’t believe that I was so lucky. I can’t believe that I got to love this person. And I also got them to love me, too.”

Simone revealed that during the COVID-19 pandemic, Chadwick’s health began to “spiral” as he battled through his fourth year of colon cancer. “It seemed like, ‘Is this a crazy coincidence?’ That we get to actually be inside, we get to be here with family, you know, together, and everybody in the world is also experiencing this togetherness in the midst of this awful, scary, unpredictable time,” Simone explained.

The 31-year-old vocalist was candid with Goldberg about the cycles of grief she’s experienced since he passed away. “Some days I’m doing worse than I’m really willing to acknowledge, and other days I’m doing better than I feel comfortable admitting,” she said. “You know, the grief really moves in.”

In 2021, Simone accepted the Golden Globe Award for Chadwick for his performance in his final film, Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom. “He would say something beautiful, something inspiring, something that would amplify the little voice inside of all of us that tells you, you can, that tells you to keep going, that calls you back to what you are meant to be doing in this moment,” she said in her emotional speech. Simone concluded with a heartfelt message to her husband: “Honey, you keep them coming.”

You can watch Simone’s full interview with Goldberg and her Golden Globe Awards acceptance speech on behalf of Chadwick down below: