Keke Palmer is opening up about the challenges she faced as a child star. Months before the release of her film, I Love Boosters, the actor participated in an unfiltered interview.

Keke Palmer reflects on her experience as a child actor

In her interview with Variety, Keke Palmer discussed the pressure she encountered as a child star. She stated, “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.”

The Akeelah and the Bee star continued, “It’s just — you’re a product.” She added, “Once you see the difference between poverty and not poverty, you’re not going to go back. Even if you’re tired.” The 32-year-old also mentioned, “And once you know you have the capacity, you just keep on taking on s–t.”

For those unaware, Palmer took a break from Hollywood following the birth of her first child, Leo, in 2023. “And I realized in the last couple of years what that meant and what it cost me,” she expressed. Palmer explained, “You start seeing how you’re loving the baby, and then you’re like, ‘I’m not loving myself right.’”

She continued, “Because the way that this baby is being loved, and the way I see the baby responding to that love, suddenly I realize not just what I lacked, but what I’m responsible to give myself…”

Palmer also shared, “I’m not a baby, so I can’t go back to Sharon and Larry and say, ‘Why didn’t you — ?’ That would be childish as hell.” The mother of one added, “So I have to now say, ‘Well, whatever it was that I needed and didn’t get that I have the capacity to offer my son, I’m responsible to do it for me too.”

Keke Palmer’s notable roles as a child artist include Barbershop 2: Back in Business, Akeelah and the Bee, and True Jackson, VP.