The saying, ‘never judge a book by its cover,’ may be true for singer and actress Keke Palmer. During a recent Facebook Live chat, the 23-year-old shared some personal tales about her life growing up in Robbins, Ill.
Palmer’s live conversation was to create awareness about her upcoming projects including her forthcoming book, ‘I Don’t Belong to You: Quiet the Noise and Find Your Voice,’ but followers may have received more personal information than expected.
“I decided to write a book because I felt like so much of my life was similar to others,” Keke begins at the 11:45 mark. “So many people watch my career and sit back and think they can’t do the things I can do because they think I came from a privileged lifestyle. I’m trying to let y’all know immediately, I’ve been through some sh*t. Some real sh*t, y’all. I didn’t come from glitter and glow.”
“It really was Godsent how everything happened for [me and my family],” she continued. “When we got [to California], the first couple of weeks, I got a Kmart commercial. People really thought I was born into this industry. They felt like it was handed to me. But that was the gag, and that’s the gag that my family, we all have. At the end of the day, it wasn’t handed to me. At the end of the day, the cards were against me. At the end of the day, I did grow up on Section 8. At the end of the day, I have experienced abuse, sexual abuse. I have experienced turmoil in my family. We have a strong bond, but we’ve been through some sh–t.”
“The point is not to hide those things, because when we hide those things we stop other people from being able to envision that life for themselves,” Keke added. “Somebody may have gotten abused, somebody may have been put down, somebody mama wasn’t in their life; somebody daddy wasn’t in their life – whatever it could have been. If they don’t see that anybody else has gone through that, and people keep acting as though they live these perfect lives, then it really doesn’t allow other people to be inspired and motivated to go beyond their current realities. It leaves them in a position of thinking they’re not good enough or this life wasn’t offered to them to be good. The reality is it doesn’t matter where you’re from, it doesn’t matter who you are, it doesn’t matter what your daddy did to you or what your mama did to you, it matters what you do with yourself. And that is the reality.”
Keke’ s revelation was welcomed with mix emotions. Some followers applauded her strength while others argued that she’s chasing fame.
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