Keke Palmer grew up in front of our very eyes, but there's a lot that fans don't know about
the talented actress, singer, TV host, and writer.
Here's a closer look at the stunning transformation Keke Palmer has gone through over the course
of her career in the spotlight.
Ever since she was a little girl, Keke Palmer knew she wanted to perform.
She first began to think about embarking on a career in the arts at the tender age of
five.
While she didn't plan on becoming an actress at that point, she did know that she wanted
to be a singer one day.
Palmer told NPR that she was inspired by her mother, who sang in a church choir in Chicago,
Illinois.
Being around the choir growing up helped to affirm in her mind that she wanted to be an
entertainer one day.
In an interview with Bustle, Palmer revealed that she'd been long drawn to the arts because
she enjoyed making other people happy.
She said,
"All I knew was I liked to sing.
I liked to bring joy to people.
I liked to put myself out there.
And that one little seed of passion of something I found to be enjoyable is what made me all
of a sudden realize what I am: I'm an artist."
Throughout her childhood, Keke Palmer kept pursuing her love of performance.
She told Bustle that her mother brought her to a local theater for her first audition
as a way to nurture her love for singing.
By the time she was nine years old, she had landed her first film role, a part in 2004's
Barbershop 2: Back in Business.
"I'm not gonna eat it."
"You know what?
You sure ain't."
"Ooh, I hate you.
I'ma tell my auntie."
Her parents, three sisters, and brother uprooted their lives to move to Hollywood to further
Palmer's career.
Her mother became her manager and, before long, Palmer's career was off to a better
start than her family could've ever hoped for.
In an episode of The Dr. Oz Show, Palmer's "momager" said she thought her daughter would
maybe film a few commercials to help pay for college.
Instead, Palmer became a bona fide star.
Palmer told Refinery 29 that her parents did her best to give her as normal of a childhood
as possible and kept her connected to her community.
Speaking bluntly about their approach, she said,
"My parents were extremely overprotective because they really didn't want me to become
this a--hole kid."
Growing up on camera wasn't always easy for Keke Palmer.
She wrote in her book, I Don't Belong to You: Quiet the Noise and Find Your Voice that she
felt a great sense of loneliness after moving to Hollywood.
Contrary to her mother's early expectations that Palmer would be a small-time star, Palmer
followed up her role in Barbershop 2 with a string of gigs.
Roles over the next couple years included spots on TV shows like Strong Medicine and
Law & Order: Special Victims Unit.
She also starred in the made-for-TV movies The Wool Cap, Knights of the South Bronx,
and Keke & Jamal.
In 2006, she landed her big break in Akeelah and the Bee as the titular character who makes
her way to the National Spelling Bee.
The film was a turning point in Palmer's career.
She also experienced her first kiss in the movie, which she described as a funny experience.
Palmer said that auditioning for Akeelah and the Bee was the first time she was truly nervous,
because so many girls were auditioning for the role.
As she kept getting callbacks, though, her confidence in her acting skills only grew.
"So what'd Miss Ross want?"
"Nothing.
Just talking about some stupid-ass spellng bee."
"You gonna do it?
You'd probably be good."
Even though Keke Palmer's acting career took off in a big way, she never forgot her first
love: singing.
At the age of 14, she recorded her debut album, So Uncool.
Palmer wanted to inspire other young people with the album.
She named the album So Uncool as a celebration of "being different," telling the Associated
Press,
"Some people may think that you're so uncool, but at the same time that makes you cool because
you're just being yourself."
Although Palmer's musical style has evolved as she has gotten older, she doesn't have
any regrets about So Uncool.
In 2016, she told Interview that she is proud of the album she recorded and likes looking
back at it, saying that it still rings true.
She said,
"The reason why I like that it's out there is it reminds me that the spirit of what I'm
doing is still the same, it's just better executed."
At 15, Keke Palmer cemented her status as a teen idol when she landed the titular role
on Nickelodeon's True Jackson, VP, playing a teenage girl who becomes the vice president
of a major fashion company.
"You haven't seen True Jackson, VP?
Oh my god, it's awesome, I have all three seasons on DVD."
Palmer told OK! that she enjoyed starring in something geared more toward her peers,
since many of her earlier roles were aimed at more adult audiences.
While she said that being on Nickelodeon was a lot of fun, the transition from working
primarily in film to starring on a television show was not exactly easy to get used to,
but once she did, she could see the appeal.
While she had been going out of state and traveling for film projects, the TV gig was
much more stable.
She said in an interview with BET,
"It was weird but at the same time it was something I really liked because I was stable.
I knew when I was going to be home and I had structure.
With movies, sometimes you're out of state for whatever time and always away from home,
so this is cool.
I like the stability."
By the time she turned 20, Keke Palmer had clearly become a force to be reckoned with.
The entertainer didn't just have a thriving acting and music career well underway by that
point, she also made history when she landed her own talk show, Just Keke, on BET.
Her new gig made her the youngest television talk show host in history.
While Just Keke lasted for just one season, it wasn't the end of Palmer's hosting career.
In 2019, she became a co-host on the third hour of Good Morning America, which was later
retitled GMA3: Strahan, Sara & Keke.
The debut of the music video for Keke Palmer's single "I Don't Belong to You" surprised fans
when it was released in 2016.
The video, which features Palmer in her underwear, didn't just show that she was very much grown
up, but it also fueled speculation that she didn't identify as straight.
While the video was a coming out of sorts, Palmer refused to put a label on her sexuality.
She revealed to People after the video dropped,
"The video was to represent the young woman today, it's not the traditional woman anymore,
and not the specifics of 'Am I gay?
Am I straight?
Am I bi?'
I'm making the rules for myself, and I don't have to be stuck down to one label."
A few years later, Palmer spoke to Pride Source about being sexually fluid, saying she dates
whoever she wants.
She added that her family, especially her mom, is very supportive of her sexuality.
Keke Palmer started her career at such a young age, but even as she grew older, there were
a lot of people who couldn't shake the image of the star as a little girl.
While many former child stars go through a rebellious phase or, worse, wind up off the
deep end, Palmer shed her child star image simply by taking on more mature roles.
Some of her fans may have been surprised to see her go from starring on a family friendly
show like True Jackson, VP to taking on grittier roles, like 2019's Hustlers.
To Palmer, though, it's all a part of growing up.
"I'm Jennifer Lopez."
"And I'm Keke."
"And we're the hustlers."
"Aoww!!"
Palmer told Blackfilm that, while roles for child actors are usually very light, transitioning
to adult stardom opens up a whole new world of possibilities for the types of roles an
actor can take on.
She said,
"First of all, you mature and there are other things that interest you.
And then there's more out there for you.
It's a bigger audience, when you're an adult."
If Keke Palmer has learned one thing from growing up in the public eye, it's the importance
of maintaining her privacy.
While curious fans may be interested in her love life, Palmer doesn't give the rumor mill
very much to go on.
Even in 2019 when former Bachelorette contestant Mike Johnson asked her out on Strahan, Sara
& Keke, Palmer evaded his question.
Although she later explained that she would be turning him down, Palmer didn't reveal
much else about that aspect of her life.
The actress told Cosmopolitan that her dating life, quote, "doesn't have anything to do
with what I'm trying to be about."
Instead, Palmer wants people to focus on her art.
Anything else is a distraction.
She said,
"If someone wants to create buzz about who they're surrounded with...that has nothing
to do with what I create.
It just undercuts the focus on the work that I put out."
The life of a child star is difficult, even for someone as grounded as Keke Palmer.
While Palmer grappled with depression and anxiety since childhood, it wasn't until she
was 17 that she found a word to explain what she had been experiencing.
In an appearance on The Breakfast Club, she said that it was actually a voicemail from
Will Smith that helped her realize that many people deal with anxiety and that she wasn't
alone.
"'Whoa!'
So that let me know, one, you know, everybody go through stuff.
Everybody go through stuff.
So guess what?
It's all right.
You're normal."
Palmer eventually learned there were even more people in her life who could relate.
In her book I Don't Belong to You, Palmer revealed that her mother and grandmother also
grappled with anxiety.
Palmer has come a long way since her early days in Hollywood and has found healing over
the years through therapy and self care.
She revealed to Cosmopolitan in 2017,
"Being able to say how I feel, that was something that was so hard for me for so long."
In 2018, Keke Palmer announced her own record label, Big Boss Entertainment.
The label was a big step in Palmer's journey of empowerment.
She created it because she was tired of seeing artists exploited by the music industry.
She revealed to Forbes,
"I experienced that a lot from the time I was 12 to the time I was 23."
Palmer was 24 at the time of the interview and said that, over the course of her career,
she had been with three record companies and that not one of them did anything to nurture
her talent or help her develop as an artist.
Instead of fighting with labels, Palmer decided to take matters into her own hands.
The singer told Billboard that the label isn't just for herself, but for other artists.
She said,
"I want to empower my peers, so they also feel they're not a part of the old way of
doing things and be a part of the big bosses."
Unlike other child actors who completely left Hollywood behind, Keke Palmer continues to
find success in the industry.
There are big things in store for her, although what form those things will take is anyone's
guess.
Not even Palmer is sure what her future will look like, but she knows she wants to continue
in the world of entertainment.
One possible career path for Palmer is directing.
She revealed to Interview,
"I would love to direct videos and that's what it keeps moving towards, but I have to
stop being scared in order to do that."
One thing is certain though: Palmer will keep exploring her passions, no matter where they
lead her.
She divulged to Teen Vogue,
"I don't know exactly what [my career] is going to look like in the next phase, but
I'm expecting to surprise myself."
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