Chadwick Boseman's widow slams brothers' estate lawsuit as 'PR stunt' in new court filing
Taylor Simone Ledward has hit back at the late actor's brothers, calling their effort to remove her as administrator of his estate a 'public-relations stunt to smear [her] in the tabloid press' in new Los Angeles court documents.
LOS ANGELES — Chadwick Boseman’s widow, Taylor Simone Ledward, has filed a fiery response to the lawsuit brought by the late actor’s brothers, calling their legal effort to remove her as administrator of his estate a “public-relations stunt to smear [her] in the tabloid press,” according to new court documents obtained by Page Six.
The documents were filed on Thursday in a Los Angeles court. In them, Ledward refutes allegations made in a July lawsuit by Boseman’s older brothers, Derrick and Kevin, who filed on behalf of their parents, Leroy and Carolyn, claiming she failed to distribute the “Black Panther” star’s estate as ordered by a court back in 2022.
Boseman died without a will at 43 on August 28, 2020, following a private years-long battle with colon cancer. Ledward inherited 50% of the estate, with each of his parents receiving 25%, and was appointed administrator.
Ledward’s lawyer, Adam Streisand, wrote that she had “distributed all of the assets of Chadwick’s Estate save one account Petitioners themselves blocked from distribution” — including $151,558 in a Bank of America account, 100 shares of Chadwick Boseman, Inc. valued at $3,396,969, a $40,000 life insurance policy, another bank account holding $241,180.75, and unclaimed property valued at $0.88. A $300,000 IRA, she says, remains undistributed only because the brothers’ own prior legal action blocked it.
The filing also states that Ledward “voluntarily gifted more than $300,000 of her own funds to Derrick’s four children,” established the Chadwick Boseman Foundation for the Arts, and licensed his play “Deep Azure” for an acclaimed run at Shakespeare’s Globe in London — all, her team says, with the family’s knowledge and participation.
Since Boseman’s death, the estate has received roughly $300,000 in SAG-AFTRA residuals; under the court order these split 50% to Ledward and 25% to each parent, and Ledward directed $75,000 each to Derrick and Kevin for the 2020–2024 period at their parents’ request — $150,000 she was not required to give, according to the documents.
The papers further claim the brothers had previously threatened litigation while Ledward was “struggling with her grief” on the first anniversary of Boseman’s death, and that their July lawsuit was reported in detail by TMZ before she knew about it.
The documents also record that Ledward married Boseman on August 21, 2020, six days before his death, and that Derrick officiated the wedding. Streisand urged the court to deny the brothers’ petition, calling it a “baseless attack” by “Chadwick’s brothers (who are not among Chadwick’s legal heirs) cloaked with authority by their ailing parents.”
Page Six says it reached out to an attorney for the brothers for comment.
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