Keke Palmer Reflects on Public Breakup With Darius Jackson: “That’s Not What I Want People to See” [Video]

Keke Palmer is no longer holding back and is opening up about this past year.

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Following the release of her new album “Just Keke,” the entertainer is shedding light on one of the most emotional periods of her life. During a recent appearance on “The Breakfast Club,” she explained why this album feels so personal. Many of the songs are clearly inspired by her breakup with Darius Jackson, who is also the father of her son, Leodis.

“I can’t speak for him, but obviously there was discomfort,” she said when asked about their relationship. “Anytime you’re dating somebody in the public eye, and you’re not a person in the public eye, it just brings a dynamic that you can’t explain unless you’ve experienced it.”

Palmer and Jackson became parents in February 2023. Later that year, things took a turn after Jackson publicly criticized an outfit Palmer wore to a Usher concert in Las Vegas. Things between the couple then became even more hostile. By November 2023, Palmer had filed for sole custody of her son and also requested a restraining order against Jackson, though the case has since been dropped.

“I hate that people had to see that. That’s not what I want people to see. I wasn’t even thinking about me because I already knew what happened,” she said. “On the other hand, I was like, obviously I don’t condone this, and that’s why I had to move the way I needed to move, because that’s not cool to me.”

She continued, “But just the fact that people had to see it, I hated it for my fans, for the people that cared about me…drama and all that type of stuff.”

One of the most direct references to her past with Jackson comes through in her single “My Confession.”

The track, released last month, borrows from Usher’s 2004 hit “Confessions Part II” and channels Palmer’s personal experience. Even with the pain, Palmer says she is not looking back in regret.

“I don’t want to say I regret it, you know, because it is what it is, and it opened up a new phase of my life—of how I want to be less fragmented and be more integrated in there,” she said later in the interview.

She ended that thought with a reminder of who she has always been.

“But at the end of the day, yeah, it’s like, I’m never going to not be Keke Palmer, you know?” she added.

Through “Just Keke,” Palmer is doing more than telling her story; she’s owning it. And this chapter sounds like freedom.