Actor Chadwick Boseman has died at age 43 after a private four-year battle with colon cancer

This is such shockingly sad news.

Chadwick Boseman, the star of such films as Black Panther, Get on Up and 42, died Friday. He was just 43.

Boseman died at his home in the Los Angeles area with his wife and family by his side, his publicist Nicki Fioravante told The Associated Press. He was diagnosed with colon cancer four years ago but had never spoken publicly about his diagnosis.

“A true fighter, Chadwick persevered through it all and brought you many of the films you have come to love so much,” his family said in the statement. “From Marshall to Da 5 Bloods, August Wilson’s Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom and several more — all were filmed during and between countless surgeries and chemotherapy. It was the honor of his career to bring King T’Challa to life in Black Panther.”’

Most recently, Boseman took a turn in Spike Lee’s latest, the June release Da 5 Bloods, as “Stormin’” Norman Earl Holloway, a U.S. freedom fighter in the Vietnam War. The character is portrayed as a ghost and is seen in flashbacks.