Lupita Nyong'o has been leaning on one of her closest friends following her split from Selema Masekela.
The 40-year-old actress has recently split from her sports commentator partner Masekela, 52, after a year together.
And now the Black Panther: Wakanda Forever star has paid tribute to her friend, the sound designer Palmer Hefferan, for being by her side and helping her get “through the hardest days” post break-up.
Writing on social media under a number of pictures of the pair, the star said: “Palmer is the kind of friend that I can count on through thick and very thin. We don’t have to talk every day, but when we do, we pick up exactly where we left off, like no time at all has passed.
“We were roommates in drama school and though we grew up in such different places (Kenya and Florida), we found a kindred spirit in each other, especially in the kitchen! We defied college norms and bought groceries together, we cooked for each other and carried the extra weight when one of us was too swamped with school work to do their fair share around the house.
“Recently, when my life was turned upside-down from heartbreak, Palmer flew in swiftly to be by my side and help me through the hardest days as I adjusted to my new reality.”
The Oscar-winner said her friend helped “take her mind off things” by suggesting fun activities to do and making delicious meals.
“She made me delicious meals, she found me therapeutic activities to get my mind off things, she cried with me and made me laugh until I cried a more joyful kind of tear.”
The actress also said Hefferan encouraged her to get her rescue cat and first pet, yoyo.
Nyong'o finished off the post by saying she would “will never be able to pay” her friend “back for the kindness she has shown” in recent weeks.
Last month, Nyong'o confirmed her "devastating" split from Masekela just one day after she was seen cosying up to newly-single Joshua Jackson.
In a rare candid moment about her personal life, the actress took to Instagram to announce the "break-up" and "publicly disassociate from someone I can no longer trust".
The actress wrote: "There are much more important things going on in the world right now, and my thoughts are with those who are deeply suffering.
"At this moment, it is necessary for me to share a personal truth and publicly dissociate myself from someone I can no longer trust…
"I find myself in a season of heartbreak because of a love suddenly and devastatingly extinguished by deception.
“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," she continued. "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.
"The promise, they say, is that a tender heart is what gives birth to fearlessness. I hope it’s true…
"I share this to keep it, and hoping that the knowledge of my experience might be useful to someone else out there 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. #Breakup
"Let's face our pain so we don’t spread it."
