Keke Palmer describes her early life in a low-income 'food desert' suburb, where her acting career became a 'way out' for her family.
As a child entertainer, Palmer felt dehumanized by the 'machinery' of networks like Disney and Nickelodeon, which viewed her as a 'product'.
Palmer took on significant financial responsibility for her family from a young age, but says she would do it again despite the personal sacrifices.
Keke Palmer is opening up about the realities of being a child star.
Source: Aaron J. Thornton / Getty
The actress, host, and singer spoke about her upbringing during a recent interview with Variety, describing her early life in a small Illinois suburb that she described as a low-income “food desert.”
Palmer started her acting career early, becoming famous as a child following breakout roles in the 2006 film Akeelah and the Bee and the 2008-11 Nickelodeon sitcom True Jackson, VP.
“Being an artist became a way out for my family,” she told the outlet.
However, once she found that success and started making money for her family, she noticed the pressure to be “a product” rather than an artist.
“Being a kid entertainer on networks such as Disney and Nickelodeon, there’s no machinery more dehumanizing than that, and I say ‘dehumanizing’ completely without sadness,” she explained. “It’s just — you’re a product.”
Keke continued, “Once you see the difference between poverty and not poverty, you’re not going to go back. Even if you’re tired,” she told the outlet. “And once you know you have the capacity, you just keep on taking on s**t.”
The multi-hyphenate has had a stable career throughout her life, but Palmer admitted that it wasn’t until recently that she began taking on fewer projects.
“And I realized in the last couple of years what that meant and what it cost me,” she told Variety.
In 2025, Palmer spoke to People about advice she’d give to her younger self, saying, “I think that my younger self needed to hear that it’s really okay to be angry, and it’s really okay to be sad.”
“I think growing up, I felt that I always had to like — I had deep feelings and I felt like, ‘Oh I just need to make it easier for everybody,’ because I didn’t want to put it out there,” she said. “But as I’ve gotten older, I realized somebody just needed to tell her, ‘You deserve to be angry sometimes. You deserve to be sad. Those are real emotions.'”
That same year, she opened up about the pressures of being the breadwinner for her family after she was cast in True Jackson VP, which causer her entire family to move to Los Angeles as her career took off.
During an interview with Shannon Sharpe, Palmer said, “My parents — at their best — made $40,000 a year growing up. A year. I was making that a show.”
“We are family, and everybody sacrificed for me to be where I’m at,” she said. “My dad gave up his pension… My mother, she gave up everything so she could travel with me.”
“I would do it again for my family,” Palmer insisted about her early career. “I could be sad — but why? Look what I gained. I gained so much more than what I sacrificed.”
