Josh Gad is mourning the loss of “Marshall” co-star Chadwick Boseman, who died Friday after a four-year battle with colon cancer.
The actor, 39, took to Twitter to offer his condolences, sharing a screenshot of a lengthy text message sent to him by the “Black Panther” actor weeks into the coronavirus pandemic.
“Breaking my twitter silence to share some beauty,” Gad tweeted. “This was one of my final texts from the brilliant & once-in-lifetime talent, @chadwickboseman – take this in & celebrate life. He knew how precious every moment was. Tonight the Heavens received one of its most powerful angels.”
The message centered on finding the beauty within nature, even during the most inconvenient and trying of times.
“If you are in Los Angeles, you woke up this morning to the rare and peaceful sound of steady precipitation. If you’re like me, maybe you looked at the week’s forecast and found that it’s supposed to rain for three straight days; not without breaks of sunlight and reprieves of moist gloom, but yeah it’s gonna be coming down like cats and dog,” Boseman began the text.
“Great. We’re stuck inside these damn quarantines because of the COVID, and now we can’t even get no sun in Cali. Come on now!” he continued. “But now that the rain has stopped and today’s storm has cleared, I urge you to go outside and take a DEEP breath. Notice how fresh the air is right now, after our skies have had a 3 week break from the usual relentless barrage of fumes from bumper to bumper LA commuters, and now today’s rain has given the City of Angels a long overdo [sic] and much-needed shower.”
“Inhale and exhale this moment,” he went on. “Thank God for the unique beauties and wonders of the day. We should take advantage of every moment we can to enjoy the simplicity of God’s creation, whether it be clear skies and sun or clouded over with gloom. And hey, if the air is this clear right now, and it does rain tomorrow, I might even put jars and bins out and catch the rain. Throw that in the water filter and I have a water more alkaline than any bottled brand out there.”
Gad also took to Instagram to reflect on his relationship with the actor in a tearful video.
“You come upon people in your life who are next-level good. This was a man who was beyond talented and was so unbelievably giving not only as a performer but as a human being,” he continued. “Beyond just being Black Panther, Chadwick was T’Challah in real life, he was somebody who just gave and gave and gave and never stopped giving.”
“2020 has been so devastating for so many reasons — this one hurts because it’s taking away somebody who was honestly one of the greats,” the “Frozen” actor added. “I don’t know how to process this, but I want to send my love to his entire family and to all the fans out there, he’s gonna be missed.”