Originally appeared on E! Online
There is no more "Us" for Lupita Nyong'o and Selema Masekela.
The Oscar winner and her boyfriend have broken up after about one year together, she shared on Instagram Oct. 19 without naming her ex.
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"It is necessary for me to share a personal truth and publicly dissociate myself from someone I can no longer trust," Nyong'o wrote. "I find myself in a season of heartbreak because of a love suddenly and devastatingly extinguished by deception."
The "Black Panther" star shared why she decided to reveal the news publicly in spite of the heartache she's currently feeling.
"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,'" she continued. "But I am reminded that the magnitude of the pain I am feeling is equal to the measure of my capacity for love. 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."
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Nyong'o, 40, noted that she hopes discussing her breakup with followers might help someone else 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."
"The promise, they say, is that a tender heart is what gives birth to fearlessness," she added. "I hope it's true."
The former couple's connection traces back years, as Masekela, a TV host and designer, confessed to having an apparent crush on the "Us" actress in 2016.
"Hypothetically speaking of course," he tweeted at the time, "let's say you're seated behind Lupita Nyong'o on an airplane, what would be your opening line?"
Things had gone from hypothetical to IRL by March 2022, when she attended the store opening of his surf apparel company Mami Wata in Venice, Calif.
Nyong'o then went Instagram official with the fashion founder in December 2022, writing at the time, "We just click!" and "#thisismylove."
Masekela also gave a look inside their romance, gushing in a separate post, "Hearts are synched. My whole and actual love @lupitanyongo."
All the stars continued to align as of two months ago, when Nyong'o celebrated his birthday with a love note to the "Sunshine Human."
"Every day is full of #goodenergy and reasons to dance with @selema as my favorite playmate. Happy Birthday, mi amor!" she wrote in August, prompting him to respond that he was the "luckiest man alive."
He has not yet publicly addressed the breakup on social media. E! News has reached out to Selema's manager for comment on the split but hasn't heard back.
