Lupita Nyong'o Says She's in a 'Season of Heartbreak' After Selema Masekela Split

Selema Masekela and Lupita Nyong'o
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The actress first went public with her and Selema Masekela's romance in December 2022.

Lupita Nyong'o is going through a breakup. The 40-year-old Black Panther star took to Instagram on Thursday to announce her split from Selema Masekela, the 52-year-old TV host she went public with back in December.

"There are much more important things going on in the world right now, and my thoughts are with those who are deeply suffering. At this moment, it is necessary for me to share a personal truth and publicly dissociate myself from someone I can no longer trust," she wrote. "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," Nyong'o continued. "And so, 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 promise, they say, is that a tender heart is what gives birth to fearlessness. I hope it's true."

Nyong'o noted that she decided to share her post in the hopes 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."

"#Breakup," she concluded. "Let's face our pain so we don't spread it."

Masekela has yet to speak out about the split.

Nyong'o's post came one day after photos obtained by The Daily Mail showed her sitting next to Joshua Jackson at Janelle Monáe's Los Angeles concert. The pics are of note as Jackson's estranged wife, Jodie Turner-Smith, filed for divorce from the 45-year-old actor earlier this month.

"Jodie and Joshua’s hectic work schedules started to weigh on their relationship starting over a year ago when they were both filming projects and not always in the same place," a source told ET at the time. "They tried to make things work and were taking steps to help their relationship and deal with managing their busy schedules. From an outside perspective, things looked great for a while, but privately, they were slowly growing apart."

"They are trying to be amicable as they move forward with their divorce and trying to avoid any feelings of animosity," the source added of the couple, who shares a 3-year-old daughter, Juno. "They're both respectful of each other and focused on co-parenting their daughter. They want to have a positive relationship for her sake and for themselves."

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