Keke Palmer reveals where things stand with her son’s father and why she wanted a baby and a “Steadman”

Keke Palmer decided to share more about turmoil and the journey to healing in the relationship with her child’s father, Darius Jackson, on her latest album, “Just Keke.” 

Keke Palmer, the fan-favorite multihyphenate entertainer and personality, has a new album out, and if the first song is any indicator, it promises to be her most vulnerable and most personal. The first record on “Just Keke,” is called “Off Script,” and on it she essentially lets the world know that her son Leo was…kinda sorta planned. Or at the very least not unwelcome. 

“You hear but you don’t listen, you still don’t love you, even when I let you get me pregnant! Oh, sh*t, how else can I prove it!? Was supposed to be my Steadman, instead you went on that baby daddy sh*t!”

Whew, chile! The Steadman line hits different, as well, and for a few reasons. For one, the Steadman line is a super 90s/00s era reference; Keke might have just re-introduced a whole new generation to Steadman Graham, the long-time partner to Oprah Winfrey who, as far as we know, stayed out of the way, never tried to dim Oprah’s light and enjoy his spot in her life without creating any drama. For Keke to reference Steadman in her former relationship with Darius Jackson, she’s essentially saying that they could have had a great forever love if he could just play his position. 

On a stop at “The Breakfast Club” during her press run for the album, she spoke about if she consciously made some changes to who she was to try to make it work with Jackson. 

Loren Lorosa asked Keke about her relationship with Jackson, and if there were any insecurities on his part from being with such a popular and famous person and if having a child together, on purpose—as Keke acknowledges that they did—was intended to help ease some of those concerns. 

“When I said the thing about my son, it’s like, you do think when you and someone come together and decide to have a child, y’all have made that decision together and that was…my son was brought in purposefully, that ‘hey we’re on the same page.’ But it doesn’t mean that,” she said. 

She continued, “And I think even moreso, after you have a kid, you start to see things differently than maybe the way you saw them before. That whatever insecurities you have, that whatever insecurities they have, because you go from being a one to a two and now a three.  And so I think having a child will really test a relationship and show you who you have to be to show up for that child.” 

She also shared that Jackson has heard the album and was happy for her, and glad she was sharing her story and being open in ways she’d never been before. 

Keke Palmer’s “Just Keke” is available on streaming platforms now.