Culture & Entertainment
Over the years, actress Keke Palmer has maintained a steady ascend in Hollywood from child star to a blockbuster “Big Boss.” But for her next act, the Nope star is considering the possibility of retiring from showbiz.
Keke Palmer recently discussed her thoughts on a potential retirement from the big screen in an interview with Teen Vogue. With a career spanning 20 years, Palmer feels that the timer for her retirement has officially started, though she doesn't know exactly when it will happen.
"I don't know. I think the timer has started," Palmer shared. "I think it's because I just haven't felt it yet. But the timer, I know that it's around the corner. I don't know when exactly, but it's around the corner."
For Palmer, the notion of exiting a front-facing career in Hollywood comes from her desire to build a long-standing legacy for her son, Leo, and open the door for future entertainers. This includes her media company, KeyTV Network.
"The main thing I want those legacies to be is [a call] to use your power for good, to use what you have to create spaces and systems for other people to thrive," Palmer said. "I just don't believe in holding everything. I don't believe in gatekeeping. I'm not a coward. What would that do? I think it's based in fear. If I'm speaking on it from a compassionate place, I think people, that gatekeep are afraid. So I'm not scared."
Palmer shared that in the past, she’s experienced anxiety related to performing and questions the longevity of a career in the entertainment industry.
“When I was younger, I used to have so much anxiety," Palmer says. "I love to perform, but is that something that can last forever? I think I always would wonder, 'Is it something that times out?' Obviously, you have people that have been acting their entire careers…but I just never knew how I could scale myself."
The Emmy-award-winning actress celebrated the arrival of her first child, Leodis "Leo" Andrellton, on February 25, 2023, with her ex-boyfriend, Darius Jackson. As a new mom, Palmer, 30, reflects on raising her son without fear, establishing boundaries, and cultivating a balance between awareness and innocence.
“I think about my son. I don't want to raise him to be afraid,” Palmer says. “I don't want to raise him to have no boundaries or for him to be naïve either. But I want to raise him to know that if life is a school, get out there and learn.”
She continues, “A part of learning in this place, I think, is to love and to know how to first be unconditionally loving to yourself, so that you know how to love others and be of service to others in a way that doesn't disadvantage them but instead empowers them. That's what I would hope that the legacy is for me. And for anyone that wants to follow me, I hope that's what they see too.”
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Featured image by Jeff Kravitz/FilmMagic
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