Keke Palmer Explains Why She Felt 'Misunderstood' as a Child Star

At just 27-years-old, Keke Palmer has already had an illustrious entertainment career. Although most kids would dream about being famous, Palmer explained to the Ladies First podcast that this dream can easily become a nightmare.

“At a young age, as a child [in the] entertainer world, your emotions are always the last thing that people care about,” Palmer said to the podcast’s host, Laura Brown. “I think you get really quickly into being a people-pleaser and trying to be everything that everybody wants you to be. And so I think in a lot of that, you end up being misunderstood.”

Palmer began her acting career at just 11-years-old. Around the same time, the young Palmer signed a record deal with Atlantic records, putting her in the position to be America’s next big child star. After starring in movies like Akeelah and the Bee, Medea’s Family Reunion, and Jump In!, Palmer was given her own Nickelodeon show, True Jackson, VP, which helped make her a household name. 

Fortunately, Palmer was able to shed her childhood fame and grow into a mature, accomplished actor. Yet, despite feeling like the world of child entertainment can be toxic, she will return to children’s TV with her role as Maya Leibowitz-Jenkins in Disney+’s Proud Family reboot.

Outside of her career, Keke Palmer has been keeping her fans entertained with her social media antics. Recently, people have been taking memes/photos of famous people, putting them in grey-scale, and then added a false history fact to accompany the picture. When Palmer added to this trend with a picture of herself, Halle Berry uses perfect comedic timing to resurface the “Baby, that’s Keke Palmer” phrase.