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Chadwick Boseman Says Phylicia Rashad and Denzel Washington Paid for Him to Study at Oxford University

Posted byBy Shamone Nelson | Published on: CommentsComments (0)

Chadwick Boseman continues to ride the wave of his blockbuster film “Black Panther.” The King of Wakanda opened up to Rolling Stone about this path to success in a recent interview. One story highlights his relationship with actress Phylicia Rashad.

Boseman played college basketball but in his junior year after losing a teammate to a gunshot wound, he wrote a play about the incident. From that moment, Boseman knew he had a different calling. The 40-year-old actor applied to Howard University for directing. Het met Rashad, who taught one of the extra classes he was taking. “She would do a play in D.C. and you’d go see it, and she’d drive you home and talk to you,” he continued told the magazine. “How you eating? You look too skinny. You need a pork chop.’ We were just trying to aspire to her excellence.”

Rashad, who saw potential in the young student, quickly became his mentor. Boseman revealed that Rashad’s kindness helped him and other students attend a summer program at Oxford to study Theater.

“She pushed for us..she essentially got some celebrity friends to pay for us to go,” he shared. Reluctantly, the “Black Panther” star revealed which of Rashad’s celebrity friends paid his way. “It was Denzel.” That was 20 years ago now and Boseman, who eagerly sent Denzel Washington a Thank-You letter in response, still hopes to meet the Oscar-winning actor in person to thank him. “I’ve been waiting to meet him, so I can tell him.

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