Less than a year after sparking romance rumours with Dawson’s Creek alum Joshua Jackson, Oscar-winner Lupita Nyong’o revealed she is single—with the only guy in her life being her cat, Yoyo.
“My love for my cat is singular,” Lupita shared in an interview with Harper’s Bazaar UK on 9 October. “If I’m ever so lucky to be in a romantic relationship again, it’ll be because of him.”
She continued, speaking of her orange tomcat, “I was ready to shut that door, lock it, and bolt it. He has ensured that my heart remains open.”
Lupita adopted Yoyo from the Best Friends Animal Society in October 2023, the same month she and Joshua were spotted together at a Janelle Monáe concert in Los Angeles.
The couple appeared to deepen their connection in March with a PDA-filled vacation to Mexico to celebrate Lupita’s 41st birthday.
Prior to his romance with Lupita, Joshua was married to model Jodie Turner-Smith for four years before she filed for divorce last year. In court documents, Jodie—who shares a 4-year-old daughter with the Dr. Death actor—listed 13 September 2023 as their official separation date.
As for Lupita, she dated sports commentator Selema Masekela for about a year before announcing their breakup. “It is necessary for me to share a personal truth and publicly dissociate myself from someone I can no longer trust,” she shared in an October 2023 Instagram Story. “I find myself in a season of heartbreak because of a love suddenly and devastatingly extinguished by deception.”
She added at the time, “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.”
Reflecting on her breakup with Selema, Lupita now sees it as an “opportunity to learn” about herself.
“You go through a lot of ‘Why? What were the signs? Why didn’t I see them? And if I did, why didn’t I act on them?’” she explained to Harper’s Bazaar UK. “Also, replaying moments and thinking, ‘Oh, I felt this apprehension, and I ignored it. Why did I ignore it?’”
Although she has no regrets about publicly sharing her feelings, Lupita now prefers to keep her relationships—breakups included—out of the spotlight.
“It’s hard enough to go through heartbreak privately,” she noted. “When the world has an image of you in relation to someone else, it prolongs the healing process because the memory is emblazoned in the public domain.”
