Chadwick Boseman's heartbreaking hint at hidden cancer battle in Black Panther interview

Black Panther star Chadwick Boseman has died after a four-year battle with colon cancer. The 43-year-old was diagnosed with stage III colon cancer back in 2016 but did not publicly discuss his health.

Fans have been mourning the loss of the actor on Twitter, where one person noticed something particulaly heartbreaking from an interview the actor did back in 2017.

Huffington Post journalist Matt Jacobs interviewed Boseman ahead of the release of Black Panther and the pair discussed the reality of 'bulking up' for Marvel movies.

Looking back on the interview now, it seems Boseman was hinting at his private health battle in his replies.

Jacobs started the conversation by asking: "You came off of one Black Panther project, did Marshall and then made another Black Panther movie. Did you bulk up, slim down and then bulk up again?

Boseman was described as "looking exhausted" as he responded: "Right. Yeah, yeah, yeah."

Jacobs then comments: "You’ve been through the wringer."

He claims Boseman laughed, while saying: "Oh, you don’t even know. You have no idea. One day I’ll live to tell the story."

I interviewed Chadwick Boseman in 2017, and to think he was going through cancer while satisfying the physical demands of a Marvel movie...https://t.co/MAB1ZYdcGS pic.twitter.com/eLdear66IU

The snippet from the interview went viral on Twitter, garnering over 143,000 likes and over 46,000 retweets.

One person replied: "He laughed. HE LAUGHED. Knowing he was dying, he still laughed at. This man loved bringing joy to others and it is absolutely brutal he can’t anymore."

Another wrote: "That is not just strength that is heart and determination."

"God, this made me start crying. His fortitude was truly the stuff of superheroes," someone else commented.

A different user added: "OMG this is extremely heartbreaking."

The tragic news of Boseman's death was confirmed in posts on his social media accounts on August 29.