Michael B. Jordan Reveals Therapy Helped Him Decompress After Playing Killmonger
Michael B. Jordan recently opened up about seeking mental health support following his portrayal of the antagonist in Black Panther.
“After the film, it lingered with me for a while,” Jordan, 38, disclosed during a Sunday, January 4, conversation on CBS News Sunday Morning. “I went to therapy, discussed it, discovered a way to simply unwind. And I believe at that point, I was still understanding that I needed to decompress from a character. You know, there’s no established method for this.”
In the 2018 Marvel movie, Jordan appeared as the mercenary and former U.S. Navy SEAL Erik “Killmonger” Stevens who attempted to overthrow his relative T’Challa (Chadwick Boseman) from Wakanda. Jordan reprised his role in the 2022 sequel Black Panther: Wakanda Forever.
The Creed actor further stated that most of the time “acting is a solitary pursuit” — which makes “connecting” with someone “truly vital.”
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“Preparing by yourself, rehearsing by yourself. There’s considerable preparation and the experience and the journey,” he explained on Sunday. “So realizing as I progressed, I [noticed] that, ‘Hey, I still have a little something inside me I need to release.’ You know, talking is really vital.”
While preparing for his role as Killmonger, Jordan revealed that he experienced periods where he was “isolated” and “didn’t really communicate” with his family much in order to concentrate.
“Erik didn’t really experience much affection,” Jordan said. “I think Erik didn’t have that experience. He faced a lot of betrayal, a lot of flawed systems around him that shaped him and his anger and his frustration. And observing history and how it frequently seems to repeat itself, and how would he break that cycle.”
Black Panther also featured the late Boseman, Lupita Nyong’o, Danai Gurira, Martin Freeman, Daniel Kaluuya, Letitia Wright, Winston Duke, Sterling K. Brown, Angela Bassett, Forest Whitaker and Andy Serkis. The film received numerous accolades and even earned an Oscar nomination for Best Picture.
Almost two years after Black Panther’s theatrical debut, Boseman passed away at the age of 43 after a private battle with cancer.
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“It is with profound sadness that we confirm the death of Chadwick Boseman,” Boseman’s spokesperson said in a statement in August 2020. “Chadwick was diagnosed with stage III colon cancer in 2016 and fought with it these past four years as it advanced to stage IV. A true warrior, Chadwick persevered through it all, and brought you many of the films you have come to cherish. From Marshall to Da 5 Bloods, August Wilson’s Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom and several others, all were filmed during and between numerous surgeries and chemotherapy.”
The statement continued: “It was the honor of his career to portray King T’Challa in Black Panther. He died at his home, with his wife [Taylor Simone Ledward Boseman] and family by his side.”
Since Chadwick’s unfortunate death, Jordan has continued to reflect on the late actor including on what he wishes he would have done differently in their relationship.
“It’s something I often think about, you know,” Jordan explained in Apple TV+’s Number One on the Call Sheet documentary in March 2025. “Not checking in as much as I should. It’s something that weighs on me too. I’m not trying to transform this into a therapy session, but Chadwick is special. I was looking forward to, like, you know …”
