Keke Palmer is only 22 years old, but she’s already lived an extraordinary life as a child actress, so she’s acquired a healthy amount of wisdom in her young life. That’s why she’s prepping a memoir titled I Don’t Belong to You: Quiet the Noise and Find Your Voice for release in October 2016.
Palmer has inked a deal with North Star Way, an imprint of Simon & Schuster to release the book, which also acts as a self-help guide for young women to realize they have to power to create their lives with confidence.
Palmer told The Hollywood Reporter of the project:
“I want to be a part of my generation in a way where I am constantly reminding them of how possible it is to live our dreams. It doesn’t mean that you have to be born with a charmed life, it means that it’s what YOU make of it. After they know my ‘uncut’ story, so to speak, I hope that they can see how many similarities we have. Therefore, there’s nothing separating them from accomplishing their goals, just as I didn’t let anything stop me from accomplishing mine. It’s about the inner-hero we all have.”
Recently, Palmer posted an excerpt of the book on her website Kekepalmer.com, seen below:
When I was younger, I was always so afraid of change and of losing certain aspects or qualities about myself, as if even the smallest change would make ‘ME’ less ‘ME.’ For example, I was really worried that if and when I lost my virginity, I wouldn’t be Keke ‘the good girl’ anymore. Who would I be if I weren’t Keke the good girl or ‘Keke the virgin?’ If that one thing changed about me what would I have left? (Answer in my head:’ Keke The Freeeeeak’!!)
Kinda crazy right? Let’s say Jennifer with the pretty blond hair cuts her hair or dyes it black– does she cease being Jennifer? Does the slightly chubby girl with the cute face who loses 10 pounds suddenly become a completely different person? The answer is a big NO to both of those questions.
I’m pretty sure you are dealing with your own set of unfairly placed labels—-‘the poor girl,’ ‘the rich girl,’ ‘the mixed kid,’ ‘the jock,’ ‘the trans kid, ’the only black kid’ or any number of other untrue and hurtful titles that have nothing to do with what’s really going on inside of you.
But here’s the BIG thing I’m learning, —who we are and what we are belongs to us and us alone! What that means in real talk is that we don’t belong to other people and we don’t belong to other people’s expectations of us. Even more real talk–we also don’t belong to our own old ideas of who we thought we should be or what we thought we should do. Bomb! It’s pretty cool knowing I’m not attached to anything that weighs me down as I continue on this journey we call life. Here’s the other big thing—you aren’t either!
We’re all made up of so many different moving parts on both the inside/ outside– and those parts will often vary moment to moment and day to day. The most fabulous part about that for me is knowing that I have the freedom and the flexibility to find my OWN voice in my own way and on my own time. I have the option to choose what I like about myself, what I don’t and how I handle that. It’s on me and up to me to decide which traits of mine that make me feel good about myself and which ones I need to let go. No one else has a vote!
Sounds like a great read!
