Lupita Nyong’o wanted to be “honest” with fans after splitting from longtime boyfriend Selema Masekela, but the decision wasn’t easy.
“Honestly, the thought of having to update people one at a time was going to be harrowing,” Nyong’o, 41, shared in her Glamour cover story, published on Monday, June 3. “I had made the choice to share the relationship with the world, and I wanted to make the choice to share the end of it with the world.”
She continued, “I knew that announcing it or sharing it with the world would mean there would be a reverb and I would have to deal with the onset of that.”
Nyong’o took her relationship with Masekela, 52, public in December 2022. Less than a year later, the actress announced their split in an October 2023 Instagram post.
“At this moment, it is necessary for me to share a personal truth and publicly dissociate myself from someone I can no longer trust,” Nyong’o wrote, in part, at the time. “I find myself in a season of heartbreak because of a love suddenly and devastatingly extinguished by deception.”
Reflecting on the Instagram post, Nyong’o told Glamour that “there is a time to be open and there’s a time not to be,” adding, “I chose that time to be open.” Elsewhere in the interview, Nyong’o said she was “severely broken” in the wake of her split and got a cat, named Yoyo, who pulled her out of a “super-low” point.
“I’m very happy with what I did, and I don’t want to do it anymore,” Nyong’o continued. “I don’t want to share that part of myself anymore.”
Despite hoping to keep her dating life more on the low-key side, it seems Nyong’o has successfully moved on. Us Weekly confirmed in December 2023 that she is dating Joshua Jackson following his divorce from Jodie Turner-Smith. (The couple split in October 2023 after four years of marriage.)
“Joshua and Lupita have been dating for a very short while now,” a source told Us ahead of the new year. “They’re focusing on keeping their relationship under the radar as much as possible.”
The pair met in 2018 when attending Children of a Lesser God at Studio 54 Theatre in New York City, but their connection was not romantic at first.
“Although it’s only been a few weeks, they were friends before dating so they have a really solid foundation for a relationship,” the source told Us. “Things are very new but going really well so far.”
