Keke Palmer recently opened up about the emotional repercussions she faced after dating an older man when she was just 15. In an interview with People, Palmer, now 31, shared insights into her past relationship with an unnamed 20-year-old man during her time starring in True Jackson, VP on Nickelodeon.
“Obviously, I shouldn’t have been 15 dating no 20-year-old, but in my mind, it was like ‘I got a full-time job… can’t nobody understand me but a grown man,’” Palmer explained. Reflecting on her mindset at the time, she continued, “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”, told Page Six.
The Akeelah and the Bee actress admits that her young age and lack of experience prevented her from fully comprehending the complexities of the relationship. “I wasn’t mentally able to process and understand things that would’ve made that relationship appropriate,” she said. As she grew older, she realized that her ex, being much older, knew “there was a lot of stuff that there’s no damn way for [her] to understand at damn 15.”
In her upcoming book, Master in Me, Palmer delves into the impact of the relationship, explaining how the power dynamic affected her self-perception and growth. “The power dynamic put me in a place that harmed me in ways I couldn’t have known,” she wrote, adding, “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.”
Now, after years of personal growth, Palmer has found clarity about her early relationships. She shared that it wasn’t until she experienced “genuine love” in adulthood that she understood what she had missed. “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,” she explained.
Through her memoir and candid conversations, Palmer hopes to provide others with the language and understanding she wished she’d had as a young teenager. Her reflections offer valuable insights into recognizing unhealthy dynamics, especially for young people navigating relationships during their formative years.