What Made Kele Palmer Hate Her Parents From a Young Age? Singer Shares Heartfelt Note
Keke Palmer reflects on the challenges she faced as a young child star, revealing how becoming the primary breadwinner for her family at a young age shaped her life.
Keke Palmer, a multi-talented star, has always been known for her positive energy. From child actor to Broadway star, author, director, and producer, Palmer has built an empire beyond the screen.
However, her path to success has been shaped by both good and bad experiences, which she recently opened up about in an interview with The Cut.
Reflecting on her career and personal life, Palmer discussed the challenges she faced growing up in the entertainment industry and the weight of being the breadwinner for her family at such a young age. Keke Palmer's journey to stardom began with her role as True Jackson in the hit Nickelodeon series True Jackson, VP, which aired from 2008 to 2011.
Playing an independent teen with a high-powered job at a fashion company, Palmer saw similarities between herself and her character.
She shared about her character that she was making it happen for herself independently in the world. Growing up with that character, it bled over into how she wanted to show up and how she tried to deal with life.
However, her success came with great responsibility. At a young age, Keke became the main source of income for her family. She revealed how the pressure of being the provider for her community, parents, and siblings weighed heavily on her.
“I hated my parents for a long time,” she admitted. She stated that there was so much pressure to rise to the occasion for her community, parents, siblings, and their sacrifices. She added that they were not saying it, but that was the reality.
The pressure was compounded by some difficult and traumatic experiences early in her career. Keke shared a painful memory of when her former manager told her that her mother needed to lose weight or risk dying.
“That really, really traumatized me and stressed me out,” she said. “It got me thinking she was going to die, thinking about things like medical bills. It was just too much.”
While Keke Palmer had a successful show on a popular network, she also faced challenges because of her race. She felt excluded from conversations that involved her peers like Victoria Justice, Miley Cyrus, and Selena Gomez.
“I wasn’t necessarily in the same conversations as Victoria Justice, or Selena Gomez, or Miley Cyrus at that time. It was very much, ‘That’s the Black show’ or ‘That’s Keke Palmer, the Black girl on the network.’”