Keke Palmer on how her and Darius Jackson met:

“Well actually, when I did Nope, that's when we met. We met when I was filming Nope. And you know how I am when I'm filming a movie or I'm doing a project or something like that. I'm very serious and I remember when I was doing, Nope, dating him was a breeze. Good. Not like how it's been in the past sometimes where I have to do my job and it's like I gotta cut a motherfucker loose because they stressed, they taken away from what I'm doing. And you know, when somebody's taken away from what I'm doing, they're done… You know, it could be a best friend relationship, hell, family. I'm just like, I gotta focus on what I'm doing.

"One thing that I really noticed from when I was filming Nope, was he made my experience better. I felt supported even, even when we were getting to know each other. So, you know, I definitely knew around, you know, when I had surgery last year or you know, when I did SNL and this came up, I had that extra support I had somebody that added as opposed to, you know, making me feel like something's taken away. And that definitely was taken into account as, obviously why we are in this, in this scenario and having this baby together because, you know, if you can support me in my career and we can support each other in life in this kind of way, then why not support each other bringing into a new life? So I, I thank you for that.”

Keke on how she found out she was pregnant:

“My baby was definitely planned. Like it, it wasn't like we sat on the chalkboard and wrote some stuff out, but… we were definitely like moving in the, in the vibe of definitely no surprise. But it's so funny because how I found out was actually Darius, because randomly I was just, you know, feeling to myself, maybe I could be pregnant. Like the, the period thing didn't even happen yet. I just thought to myself, huh, maybe I could be pregnant. Maybe this is the time. You know what I mean?

"I'm feeling good, you know, I always, you know, told myself definitely by 28 I would love to, to be pregnant, or you know, at least focusing on something like this. I was like, open to it like you're saying, and you know, [he's a] good partner, feeling really good. And so I was like, you know what? I feel like maybe that, maybe that I am [pregnant]. So I took the test and it came back negative, you know what I mean? I didn't have the lines on there, so I just threw it in the trash, you know what I mean? I just threw it in the trash.

"And so I go out with, um, with Nora and we're at like this semi-casual business dinner, but we're like having some little sake and like enjoying ourselves, and all of a sudden I get a text from Darius and he says, ‘When did you take this?’ And it's a picture of the pregnancy test and it's positive…I didn't wait long enough! And I'm like, ‘I took that earlier today, like literally just some hours before I left out.’ And he said, ‘Well, you better get to be drinking water in your sight. Cause I'm buying 10 of these things right now. You take them all when you get home.’ Soon as I come home, I, and I'm also not kidding, as soon as I come home, Me and him, I do 10 of 'em back to back, back to back, to back, to back to back. [And they're] all positive…”

Darius shares his side of the story about finding out Keke was pregnant:

“...First off, let, let, let's, let's set the record straight. You know, I was not digging in the trash can like, so the cleaning lady, she, she just emptied out the trash. So, when I went to the bathroom, I only just see one item inside the trash and I was, uh, the, [I saw] the pregnancy test and it was just, and it was facing down. I was like, okay, well she took a pregnancy test today. Okay. I guess she decided to take it on her own.

"No big deal, let me just lift it up. And then I just see the line and it was not even faint. It was actually a very thin line, solid straight. And I was like, the, this, this, this is actually a positive pregnancy test right now. So that's, that's, you know, but it stood out that it was just like the only thing inside a trash can, so I was not digging on through!

"But um, yeah, so at that point in time it did feel like, you know, when you watch them, uh, them like rom-com movies or them, them pregnancy movies where they go in that montage and they go to that grocery store and they're buying all the pregnancy tests. That's what it felt like.

"I went to Target and I was just like, ok, Clear Blue just started pouring all that in and then, uh, we had them lined up. I had like, Two, three bottles of water ready for Keke when she came back, [she began] drinking a bunch of water. And then, uh, yeah, during the, like the next two hours, it just kept [saying] positive, positive, positive, positive.”

Keke on how they determined the baby’s name (and it won’t be True Jackson):

“Me and Darius, we have a couple of little, like, aesthetic ideas, but most importantly, we just want him to look like a regular kid, like we are so anti-anything of aesthetic baby. Also including the name. We're not saying the name, but the name for us - it gives American. It gives Black American storyline. We want it to just be like, you know, we're not going for anything too unique. It's not about to be Stone and Sand. It's just like a nice natural [name]. I love that. I love that. No aesthetic baby.

"…Our baby is about to be dirty, wearing dirty t-shirts. Like we just want the baby to look like a baby for real, velcro shoes, you know what I mean? Like I love it. Light 'em up toes. Quarter, quarter jumpers. Yeah. Yeah, exactly. But, you know, but you know what's so funny is when we first started dating, it's so hilarious. Darius’ brother [Insecure actor Sarunas J. Jackson] was like, 'Yo, you know, you guys been dating for a minute. That'd be crazy if y'all get married and you turn her into a True Jackson [after her Nickelodeon TV show and character.]'

"So we said, when we do, we said, when we do our wedding cards, that's when the True Jackson moment will shine. We'll do the wordplay for those invitations. Yeah, but we are like, we can't name the baby True Jackson. That's too much of a joke. Yeah, that's too much of a novelty. It's too much of a novelty.”

Let’s make things inbox official! Sign up for the xoNecole newsletter for daily love, wellness, career, and exclusive content delivered straight to your inbox.