Keke Palmer has some ups and downs in her relationship with her parents.
The second of Sharon and Larry Palmer’s four children, Keke, 31, felt some major pressure after she landed her breakout role in Akeelah and the Bee in 2006, which she followed up with 2008’s True Jackson, VP on Nickelodeon, which truly launched her into child stardom — and solidified her as the primary breadwinner for her family.
The actress told The Cut that there was “so much pressure to rise to the occasion for my community, for my parents, for my siblings, for their sacrifices” that it led to hatred on her end.
“I hated my parents for a long time,” she admitted.
Though her loved ones “weren’t saying” that the pressure was on her, “that was the reality,” and she knew it. “Because I’m the one that we all came here for.”
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The pressure she felt was exacerbated by a former manager, who “really, really traumatized” her when she said her mother was going to die if she didn’t lose weight.
“It got me thinking she was going to die, thinking about things like medical bills. It was just too much,” Keke told the outlet.
Her challenges within her family dynamic led her to identify particularly well with her Nickelodeon character, a 15-year-old high school student who is put in charge of a major fashion brand.
“She was climbing a corporate ladder, working a grown-up job as a kid. I felt the same way,” Keke told the outlet of True Jackson, who she played for two seasons from 2008 to 2011.
“She was making it happen for herself independently in the world. Growing up with that character — it bled over into how I wanted to show up, how I want to deal with life.”
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Keke has opened up previously about the challenges of her childhood fame, particularly given the relationship she was in throughout her time on True Jackson, VP.
“I had a great time doing True Jackson VPbut it was also a very stressful, difficult, depressive time,” she told PEOPLE for an October cover story as she revealed she dated a 20-year-old when she was only 15 while starring on the show.
“I was trying to balance between being really young, but also feeling quite mature. If I thought it was inappropriate, then I wouldn’t have done it.”
She continued, “I wasn’t mentally able to process and understand things that would’ve made that relationship appropriate.”
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In her book, Master of Meshe wrote that the “power dynamic” between her and her then-boyfriend, who she never named, “put me in a place that harmed me in ways I couldn’t have known. I didn’t have the language or the strength to accept that who he met was a child, not the woman I wanted to become.”
“It wasn’t until I was a real grown woman, and even then we know we’ve still got more time to grow. But by 26, 27, 28, I had finally experienced, I think, genuine love,” she added. “Not that I didn’t love that [other] person, but it wasn’t until I’d felt what it was like for someone to love me back and to actually give me respect, that I’ve realized that relationship was wrong.”
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