Kenyan-Mexican actress Lupita Nyongo and Selema Masekela have called it quits less than one year after going public with their romance on social media. Lupita played the female lead, Nakia, in the 2018 superhero film Black Panther.
The actress made the announcement of her split from her television host lover on social media. Selema, who is also sports commentator, actor and singer, is the American-born son of late legendary musician Hugh Masekela.
The two confirmed their relationship and went official with it on Instagram in December last year.
Lupita Nyongo wrote a lengthy message on why she has decided to share the news publicly. She wrote that she felt it was necessary for her to share a personal truth and publicly dissociate herself from someone she could no longer trust.
“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,” she wrote.
The actress said she is reminded of the magnitude of the pain she was feeling which is equivalent to her capacity for love.
“I am choosing to face the pain, cultivating the courage to meet my life exactly as it is, and trusting that this too shall pass.”
The 40-year-old actress said that her discussing her breakup might help with the pain she is currently experiencing. She said it could possibly help someone who is also going through the same thing.
“The promise, they say, is that a tender heart is what gives birth to fearlessness, I hope it’s true. I hope 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 wrote.
Lupita Nyongo has also deleted all her photos with Masekela from her Instagram page.