A match made in Hollywood. Keke Palmer has kept her romance with boyfriend Darius Jackson relatively private, but their relationship started at a party filled with famous figures.
The Scream Queens alum and the writer reportedly first met at a May 2021 party hosted by Issa Rae and Diddy. The duo went public with their romance three months later, with Jackson (also known as Darius Daulton) gushing over his girlfriend in an Instagram post.
“You’ve been a blessing from above,” the fitness trainer wrote at the time. “Never would have expected summer 2021 to turn out the way it did, but here we are. I’m glad we were able to help each other throughout our lowest of times & show one another that what we are bringing to the table is everything that we got.”
Palmer, for her part, said that one of the things that attracted her to her beau is his relative lack of interest in being a celebrity. “I’ve always been somebody that hasn’t wanted too much industry stuff in my life,” the Nope actress explained during November 2021 interview on The Tamron Hall Show. “He’s very industry-adjacent, meaning he understands it but that’s not what he’s about.”
The Illinois native added that she wasn’t necessarily interested in going public with Jackson, but their romance became more “difficult to hide” as they got serious. “We spend all this time together, and he really is my closest friend, so it just becomes a thing where I’m not gonna hide something that makes me happy,” she explained. “It’s not gonna be everything you see, my job is my job, but at the end of the day this is somebody that is important to me, so why not?”
In December 2022, however, Palmer didn’t hold back when announcing that she and her boyfriend are expecting their first child together. The True Jackson, VP alum revealed her baby bump during her Saturday Night Live hosting debut, explaining that she wanted to clear up speculation about her pregnancy.
“There’s some rumors going around, people have been in my comments saying, ‘Keke’s having a baby, Keke’s pregnant,’ and I wanna set the record straight — I am,” the Hustlers star said, cradling her baby bump for the cameras. “Guys, I’m going to be a mom! Even though some people feel a little weird about me having a baby ‘cause I was a child actor, I just wanna say, ‘Look, I’m 29, I’m grown, I have sex [and] I own a home. … You know, things adults do.’”
Jackson, for his part, confirmed the news via Instagram, sharing a photo of a visibly pregnant Palmer with the caption, “2023.”
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