Keke Palmer Relives Her Greatest Moments On and Off Screen - Aniristorante

Keke Palmer Print Presentation — Keke Palmer. Aeon/GC Images

Keke Palmer doing We He’s been smiling since his movie debut at the age of 10 in 2004 barber 2. (Good eye roll!)

Aspect Young artist turned multi-hyphenateHis ability to laugh has increased even more. (We’re still recovering from the “I’m sorry to this guy” meme from 2019. To be fair, we were politically unknown Dick Cheney or.) But as Palmer, 31, shows in his new book, Master of Me: The Secret to Controlling Your NarrativeHe also has the strength and talent to inspire. “Behind the scenes, I take all of this pretty seriously,” he writes. The actress/singer/podcaster dished on some of her stories in the magazine’s newest issue. Us Weekly.

Idol Reunion

one episode Law & Order: SVU The 6-year-old was deeply affected by sexual abuse experienced by another child a year before. He starred in the series when he was 12 years old.

“Olivia Benson, she was my detective. See what I mean? On set, my mother had to push me off the cliff; I almost couldn’t do my lines, I was so starstruck Mariska Hargitay. It was so magnificent and beautiful. Maybe two years ago I texted her: ‘Hey Mariska, I don’t know if you remember what we did Law and Order together. ‘I just want to say I love you, think how kind you are, and hope you’re okay.’ He replied: ‘Keke, of course I remember. ‘I’m so proud of you and everything you’ve done.’ “It was beautiful.”

Lights! Camera! Kiss!

Palmer got her first kiss from her friend at age 12 Corbin Bleu — While filming the Disney Channel movie Jump In! This was 2006, long before hiring intimacy coordinators became common practice. For Palmer, that moment was crucial.

“Most of the time people don’t think about children with these things. They see us as professionals. I think in the industry people parentify kids and we act older because we’re trained to act older – but we’re not. So we can’t process emotionally, but people won’t know that because we act professionally on the outside. It was a bit of a quick peck, but it meant a lot to me. “I have never kissed anyone except my family.”

Adjusting the Noise

Despite critical love, his 2006 drama Akeelah and the Bee It was not an instant box office success. He was 12 at the time and the disappointment was formative. Palmer would never look at reviews again or let initial box office results weigh on him.

“Success is different. Dollar success is different than influence success. And even when it comes to influence success, sometimes people don’t know what they’re talking about because Akeelah and Bee became popular over time. People don’t really remember that, but I do because when it didn’t do what everyone thought it would do, I felt it all in my gut and said, ‘Oh ‘Damn, everything everyone said didn’t happen,’ I said. At that point, being so young experiencing this, I was like, ‘Yeah, I can’t do this anymore,’ I have to be proud of what I’ve done and let that be enough.’”

Taking Back His Power

Palmer’s personal life became the subject of the internet last year after her then-boyfriend Darius Jackson – father of their son Leo, now 21 months old – publicly criticized the outfits he wore to a prom Forerunner concert. (“You are a mother.”) Things got much worse between the two before they got better, but she created a new Usher narrative by paying tribute to him at the BET Awards in June.

“I never wanted my relationship to be in the public eye because I know people play too many games. It gets frustrating because people talk about things they don’t really know. My relationship is not the center of who I am as a person. It’s my business.”

“Aren’t we all performing at the end of the day?” asks Palmer. “The joke is, who’s pulling your strings?”

For more on Palmer, pick up the latest issue. Us WeeklyNow on newsstands.