Relationships are a big deal to Lupita Nyong’o. The Quiet Place: Day One star has been thrown in a lot of dating rumors with co-stars and other Hollywood heavyweights.
Though she’s only been in two confirmed relationships, she opened up to Glamour about how she feels a responsibility to update the public about her heartbreaks. “Honestly, the thought of having to update people one at a time was going to be harrowing. I had made the choice to share the relationship with the world, and I wanted to make the choice to share the end of it with the world,” she told the outlet. “I knew that announcing it or sharing it with the world would mean there would be a reverb and I would have to deal with the onset of that.”
Though she’s brought Joseph Quinn on dates to the Oscars, they two aren’t dating. Take a look back at her dating history and rumors.
Lupita Nyong’o is currently dating Joshua Jackson. The two started dating in October 2023 after they were spotted at a Janelle Monae concert together. In the same month, Jackson announced that he was divorcing his wife Jodie Turner-Smith due to “irreconcilable differences.”
Lupita Nyong’o was wrapped in dating rumors with her Black Panther co-star Michael B. Jordan. The two denied the romance.
“We’re good friends,” Jordan told Entertainment Tonight. “Honestly, we’ve known each other a really long time and respect each other and I love this girl to death.”
Nyong’o had the same sentiments. “It’s flattering at the end of the day. I think it’s such a rare thing to find people you have good chemistry with and too 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,” she said.
Lupita Nyongo dated sports commentator Selema Maselka until 2023. It’s not known when the two started dating, but the Black Panther actress posted a lengthy Instagram post about her break up with him.
“I find myself in a season of heartbreak because of a love suddenly and devastatingly extinguished by deception,” she wrote. “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. 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.”
Lupita Nyong’o was in a relationship with K’Naan from 2013 to 2014. The 12 Years A Slave actress was the one to call it off, according to Us Weekly.
After Jared Leto called Lupita Nyong’o his “future wife” at the MTV Movie Awards, there were plenty of rumors that she was dating Jared Leto. A decade later, Nyong’o reflected on how the rumors affected her negatively.
“I paid no attention,” she told Glamour. “I actually deafened my ears to all the discourse about the awards because I was going through so many firsts. The red carpet was new, everything was new to me.”
She continued, “It was drawing attention away from the work,” she says. “I didn’t want that sort of attention. I didn’t want all that chatter to deter from the joy I was having becoming his friend.”
Lupita Nyong’o had dating rumors with Janellé in 2013. Though the two are close, Lupita denied the rumors but could see why people could guess that they’re dating.
“She has magnetism that they were obviously picking up on,” Nyong’o told Rolling Stone. “She is that enigmatic. I was not surprised. And I don’t mind being associated with her in any capacity.”
“Just because you’re a close friend of hers doesn’t mean you get to know everything about her,” Nyong’o said. “I think that’s what makes her interesting as an artist.”
A source told Page Six that Lupita Nyong’o had an on-set romance with 12 Years A Slave co-star Chiwetel Ejiofor. The source told them that the love match fizzled once the movie wrapped.
