Keke Palmer Explains How Her Experience as a Child Star Was Different From Selena Gomez or Miley Cyrus'
Keke Palmer spoke very candidly about her experience as a child star.
The 31-year-old actress was only 12 when she was cast in her breakout role Akeelah and the Bee. After that came her hit Nickelodeon show True Jackson, VP.
In a new interview, Keke reflected on growing up in the public eye. She addressed the challenging period of her career where she had to navigate the bridge between child star and adult entertainer.
She also compared her experience as a Black woman to that of fellow child stars like Miley Cyrus and Selena Gomez, who also found fame on television shows around the same time.
Keke even talked about her experience at Nickelodeon following allegations that other child actors were groomed or abused on the set of projects.
Keep reading to find out more…
Speaking to The Cut, Keke said that “people were putting limitations on [her]” at the start of her career.
“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,’” she recalled, adding that she had experienced it even before then in school.
She said, “There is a loss of innocence that comes with the awareness that you’re treated differently that I’d accepted a long time ago.”
Keke also revealed how she changed because of the experience: “I don’t compare myself to anyone. But I definitely don’t compare myself to any white person.”
As for her experience at Nickelodeon, Keke noted that she did not face the same things that other stars have alleged. That doesn’t mean that she thought the industry was necessarily healthy.
“Sure, the child-star industry is inherently exploitative. But everything is inherently exploitative,” she opined. “Everything is a problem, and everything is hurting somebody else. No disrespect to anybody else, because everyone else’s experience is valid. But I don’t want to group my experiences with theirs because that’s not how I think. And I think that’s a big part of how I’ve survived.”
After her Nickelodeon show ended, Keke noted that she was at “this weird age where you’re too young for the kind of roles that you would want and you’re too old for the kind of roles you used to get.”
“Your brand was made up of you being a kid, and you’re not a kid anymore. So you have to build a new one,” she explained. Of course, we know that she managed to do just that!
If you missed it, Keke recently addressed a big rumor about one of her former costars.