Newly revealed correspondence involving Chadwick Boseman’s family and widow has brought fresh attention to questions his relatives raised about an opioid reportedly found in the actor’s system after his death.
Boseman, celebrated worldwide for portraying King T’Challa in Black Panther, died on August 28, 2020, at age 43 following a private battle with colon cancer.
According to documents obtained by TMZ, lawyers representing Boseman’s parents and brothers contacted attorneys for his widow, Taylor Simone Ledward Boseman, in November 2020 seeking access to his medical records. They also requested that information stored on his phones, computers and other electronic devices be preserved.
The correspondence reportedly intensified in August 2021 when the family’s lawyers referred to toxicology findings following an autopsy they said was completed on September 1, 2020.
According to the letter, the toxicology results showed 0.12 mg/L of hydromorphone, a powerful prescription opioid, in Boseman’s system. His relatives’ attorneys described the result as concerning and questioned the medical treatment he had been receiving before his death.
The family also reportedly sought answers after Boseman was said to have been found on the floor of his bedroom on the day he died. His widow’s legal team strongly pushed back against the family’s approach, criticizing the correspondence as aggressive and defending the way matters surrounding Boseman’s death and estate were handled.
Importantly, the correspondence does not establish that hydromorphone caused Boseman’s death. Interpretation of opioid concentrations after death can require consideration of medical history, treatment, autopsy findings and other circumstances. Medical-examiner guidance cautions against determining drug-related causation solely from a concentration number.
Boseman’s publicly announced cause of death has remained colon cancer, and earlier claims suggesting that he was poisoned were debunked following his death.
The newly surfaced letters have emerged amid an ongoing dispute involving Boseman’s estate, with his brothers seeking to remove his widow as administrator a move she opposes.
