Actors Michael B. Jordan and Lupita Nyong’o dismissed rumors linking them as a romantic couple. The Black Panther stars have insisted they are “just friends” ever since they started working on the 2018 blockbuster superhero film.
“We’re good friends, honestly, we’ve known each other a really long time and respect each other and I love this girl to death,” Jordan tells Entertainment Tonight.
“It’s flattering at the end of the day,” Nyong’o adds. “I think it’s such a rare thing to find people you have good chemistry with and for us to find each other as actors and get to work together; it makes the work richer that we truly enjoy each other’s company on and off screen.”
Michael and Lupita mocked the romance rumors by sharing a steamy kiss in an elevator at the Golden Globes Awards on Sunday. They also included their Black Panther co-star Danai Gurira in on the flirty fun, but the joke misfired when both Danai and Lupita lost their balance and hit the floor when the elevator door closed.
“This is the thing, first of all, Danai, she commits to everything, so she really committed to that swoop and it took me by surprise,” Nyong’o adds. “We were both in stilettos, so we ended up on the ground.”
Lupita has been tight-lipped about her personal life, refusing to discuss who she’s seeing. Her silence – plus the lack of swarthy men in her life – sparked rumors that she is a lesbian. Both Lupita and Michael are rumored to be members of the LGBT community.
In 2017, Lupita addressed the rumors surrounding her personal life, by insisting she would never address them.
“You can ask, but you definitely won’t get an answer,” she told U.S. Vogue when asked if she was in a relationship. “There have been rumors and rumors and rumors about my love life. That’s the one area that I really like to hold close to my heart.”
Photos by Rich Fury/Getty Images, Frazer Harrison/Getty Images
