Lupita Nyong’o prefers to keep her personal life private. However, after sharing last year’s breakup news with her social media followers, the Academy Award winner, 40, is opening up about her split from ex-boyfriend Selema Masekela amid her relationship with new boyfriend Joshua Jackson.
“I was living in a lot of pain and heartbreak,” Lupita told Porter magazine in an interview published on Monday, February 26. “I looked at the environment of my social media and thought, I don’t want to be a part of this illusion that everything is always coming up roses. Surely there is a lesson for me to learn in this, and I just want to be real about it.”
After posting her 2023 breakup post, the Us actress felt relieved and understood that she wasn’t alone in dealing with heartache, the publication noted.
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“I knew how it could be interpreted; I knew it would have a life of its own,” Lupita pointed out before adding, “But then I started to see the comments and people were being so loving and supportive. The ones that moved me the most were other people sharing their pain and their heartbreak.”
Nevertheless, the A Quiet Place: Day One star acknowleged that she used to keep her private life far away from the public eye. “And that was very, very sage of me,” she added before pouting out, “I’m going back to those days, by the way.” The publication noted that Lupita was hinting at her current relationship with Joshua, 45, who also split from his estranged wife, Jodie Turner-Smith last year.
Lupita’s mindset was different in 2022, which was when she shared her then-love with Selema with her fans.
“In my mind, when I shared my relationship status with the world, it was because I felt sure about it,” she told the outlet.
In October 2023, the 12 Years a Slave actress broke the news of her and Selena’s split via Instagram. Though she did not mention her ex-boyfriend by name, fans understood who she was referring to.
“At this moment, it is necessary for me to share a personal truth and publicly dissociate myself from someone I can no longer trust,” Lupita penned in a lengthy Instagram caption at the time. “I find myself in a season of heartbreak because of a love suddenly and devastatingly extinguished by deception. I am tempted to run into the shadows and hide, only to return to the light when I have regained my strength enough for me to say, ‘Whatever, my life is better this way.’ But I am reminded that the magnitude of the pain I am feeling is equal to the measure of my capacity for love.”
In her post, Lupita explained the reason why she decided to pour her heart out with her Instagram followers.
“I share this to keep it [real] and hoping that the knowledge of my experience might be useful to someone else out there experiencing the grip of heartbreak who is poised to try and escape from the pain and miss out on the wisdom that comes from it,” she concluded.