Navigating a Toxic Relationship: Keke Palmer Shares Insights from Her Past with Ex Darius Jackson

Palmer and Jackson share a son, Leodis, who will celebrate his first birthday this February.

Palmer and Jackson, a fitness instructor, were said to have begun dating in 2021. She would reveal her pregnancy a year later while hosting “Saturday Night Live.”

Following a now-infamous public shaming on X (formerly Twitter) in 2023 when Jackson called out the “True Jackson, VP” star over a bodysuit she wore to an Usher concert – “It’s the outfit though… you a mom” – fans began to worry that Palmer’s pairing with Jackson could be toxic.

That assumption would be confirmed when Palmer filed a restraining order against Jackson later that year, alleging physical and emotional abuse.

Speaking to The Cut, Palmer claims she initially had difficulty accepting the harsh reality of her relationship with Jackson.

“There’s a [sensationalizing] that happens with that word,” she says. “But there really are often no other words to describe such a toxic dynamic.”

Palmer admits that giving birth to her son was the wake-up call she needed to leave the relationship, “before it had the chance of becoming something that I had to survive.”

For years, Palmer says she did what she could to make excuses for Jackson’s behavior – something she attributes to observing others while overlooking her own needs.

“You can say, ‘I know you’re not like that,’ or ‘I know it’s not like this,’ or ‘I know you’re a good person deep down,’” she now realizes, adding, “You can make so many excuses for behavior that could have stopped.”

Even with being a purported domestic violence victim, Palmer was more concerned with how Jackson’s abuse could lead fans to pity her – something she has never wanted.

“I hated it,” she admits. “It was my personal junk. It didn’t deserve a place in the center of something that I worked very hard to make encouraging and empowering.”

Despite sightings of the two celebrating Palmer’s birthday and Jackson’s recent enrollment in the military, the two remain separated while “peacefully co-parenting” their son.

Palmer also gave details of where things stand following the wave of headlines crafted from an alleged conversation on the set of “Scream Queens,” the 2015 Ryan Murphy horror-comedy series.

Per “Master of Me,” Palmer’s 2023 memoir, the moment occurred after she tried to ease tension between two arguing, white co-stars. One of those stars – whom Palmer renames “Brenda” in the book – then turned to Keke and stated, “Keke, don’t. Who are you – Martin F-cking Luther King?”

Palmer has never identified the person outright but says they never apologized. They did, however, reach out to the actress via Instagram to congratulate her on the book.

“I was like, ‘Hey, thanks, it feels good,’” she revealed. “She was just checking the temperature. She knows what she did.”

As for Murphy himself who, per The Blast, once yelled at Palmer for taking a previously-scheduled day off, the producer has yet to respond to her claims – not that Palmer minds, anyway.

“I did what I had to do for me, and it caused me an issue with one of the most popular and successful men in the industry,” she noted, “and sometimes getting to your success may cost you to do the same thing.’”

Palmer’s challenges in life and her career were paramount in the fight to maintain her vision for “One of Them Days,” her first big-screen role since 2022’s “Nope.”

As co-star and an executive producer of the project, Palmer says it took nearly five years of development and four script rewrites before finally arriving at the finished product – a story based on two friends doing their best to stay hopeful and afloat in a world where gentrification is quickly becoming the norm.

“I had to really be specific about what needed to change,” the entertainer shared, “what the jokes were going to say, what story we’re telling about where these two characters come from. I was more than just an actor doing the role. I really cared about the project as a whole.”

Palmer’s next big role, a dark comedy called “I Love Boosters,” shares similar theme with “One of Them Days,” but ultimately is about building and maintaining a community.

“You can’t make the world care about you. You just can’t,” she notes. “But if you try your best, you can build a community and fight for things you want.”

Palmer’s comedy, “One of Them Days,” co-starring SZA in her first film role, hits theaters on January 17, 2025. Watch the trailer above.