Michael B. Jordan Says He Isolated Himself, Didn’t Speak to Family While Preparing for Killmonger – Needed Therapy After Role

Michael B Jordan as Killmonger

Michael B. Jordan Says He Isolated Himself, Didn’t Speak to Family While Preparing for Killmonger – Needed Therapy After Role

Michael B. Jordan is opening up about the emotional toll of playing one of Marvel’s most iconic villains — and how therapy helped him reset afterward.

While speaking with CBS Sunday Morning, Jordan revealed that portraying Erik Killmonger in Black Panther lingered long after filming wrapped. “After the movie, it kind of stuck with me for a bit,” Jordan said. “Went to therapy, talked about it, found a way to kind of just decompress. And I think at that point, I was still learning that I needed to decompress from a character.”

Jordan explained that acting can often be an isolating process, especially when fully committing to a role. “Acting is a solo journey a lot of times,” he said, noting that auditions and preparation frequently happen alone. “There’s a lot of preparation and the experience and the journey. So learning as I went, I [realized] that, ‘Oh man, I still got a little something on me I need to get off.’ You know, talking is really important.”

The actor admitted that his dedication to Killmonger made it difficult to separate from the character, revealing that he intentionally isolated himself during preparation and “didn’t really speak” to his family while getting into that headspace.

“Erik didn’t really know a lot of love. I think Erik didn’t experience that,” Jordan said. “He had a lot of betrayal, a lot of failed systems around him that shaped him and his anger and his frustration.”

Jordan starred in Ryan Coogler’s Black Panther alongside the late Chadwick Boseman, Lupita Nyong’o, Danai Gurira, Martin Freeman, Daniel Kaluuya, Letitia Wright, and Winston Duke. Released in February 2018, the Marvel blockbuster went on to gross $1.34 billion worldwide, cementing Killmonger as one of the franchise’s most talked-about villains.