Life has certainly been good for Chadwick Boseman since he became the King of Wakanda,
but fans of the Black Panther star are suddenly worried for his health.
Those worries arose after Boseman took to Instagram to post a self-shot video in celebration
of what would've been Major League Baseball's "Jackie Robinson Day." With professional baseball
suspended indefinitely, Boseman who portrayed Jackie Robinson in the 2013 biopic 42 chose
to celebrate the day anyway with a video post that was also meant to commemorate the launch
of "Operation 42," a collaboration between Thomas Tull and FIGS, who manufacture surgical
scrubs. The noble collaboration made a $4.2 million donation to supply medical gear to
African American communities hardest hit by the pandemic.
"They're gonna execute the distribution of those scrubs, those masks, of those isolation
gowns to those hospitals that have been impacted the most."
Rather than celebrating Jackie Robinson Day and Operation 42's huge donation alongside
the actor, Boseman's fans were instead taken aback by his appearance in the video, noting
specifically his dramatic weight loss. The comments section on the video quickly filled
up with questions about Boseman's health.
The video itself has since been removed from the main feed of Boseman's Instagram page,
but it can still be seen in the IGTV section of his profile. Boseman is indeed not looking
like his usual self in the video, with sunken eyes, prominent cheekbones, and a shaggy beard.
Given the current state of the world, fears over Boseman's health are probably a bit more
heightened than usual. The good news is that Boseman still seems very healthy in the video,
and genuinely excited that "Operation 42" has been such a success. However, the fact
that the video in question has been unceremoniously removed from the main portion of Boseman's
Instagram feed is still a bit worrisome. That, coupled with the radio silence coming from
the actor and his management team, is fueling the fires of concern on all fronts.
Looking at the video, one might be inclined to believe Boseman has probably begun a weight-loss
regimen in preparation for a future role. That is, after all, a familiar enough tactic
for actors having been utilized by A-listers like Christian Bale, Matthew McConaughey,
Anne Hathaway, and, most recently, Joaquin Phoenix in his Oscar-winning Joker turn.
Still, those actors and their reps have historically been quick to announce the planned weight
loss, and tend to do so literally the moment pictures of the sometimes dangerously thin
performers begin to surface. With no announcement coming from Boseman's camp yet, fans' imaginations
are left to run wild, and we all know just how wild those imaginations can be.
While we await news as to what's really going on with Chadwick Boseman's shocking weight
loss, we can offer a little insight into what role he might have lost weight for. A peek
at the actor's IMDb page will show you that he has a handful of projects in the works,
with Marvel's Black Panther 2 obviously being the standout. But given the physical nature
of Boseman's MCU work, it's highly unlikely he'd go through such a dramatic transformation
for the sequel.
There are, however, a couple of projects in Boseman's future that could explain the weight
loss. He's set to star in a sci-fi series entitled The Black Child, as well as a biopic
entitled Yasuke, which finds the actor playing a 16th-century slave warrior who went on to
become the only known Samurai of African origin. Either of those roles could necessitate weight
loss and a gaunt physique.
While many are concerned over Boseman's current appearance, starkly different from the musclebound
physique they're used to him sporting on screen in the MCU, there are some who have argued
that when he isn't bulking up for a movie role, the actor has always been thin.
"I wanted to go old school for my first day. Yeah I bet the elders loved that."
Notably, filmmaker and journalist Xilla Valentine headed to Twitter with a video of him interviewing
Boseman in 2017 during a junket for Marshall, a biopic in which the star played the first
black U.S. Supreme Court Justice Thurgood Marshall. In the caption of the video, Valentine
wrote that Boseman is, quote, "just a skinny dude." He continued,
"Back in 2017 when I interviewed him for MARSHALL. We joked about our dinner at Red Rooster and
he is now VEGAN. He has been this slim."
Activist April Reign also noted in a tweet that Boseman is simply a slender guy, and
that there isn't cause for concern here. She said:
"Having had the privilege of being in the same room with Chadwick Boseman a few times,
my experience is that he's naturally thin. Perhaps many of the roles you remember him
for require him to bulk up, but on the regular? He's fine, y'all."
She also cheekily added that Boseman is an attractive guy no matter what.
At this point, any and every opinion as to what may or may not have led to Chadwick Boseman's
weight loss is pure conjecture.
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