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Keke Palmer is opening up about embracing her postpartum body and sharing some words of encouragement for fellow new mothers. As The Shade Room previously reported, the actor recently came under fire by her boyfriend and father of her newborn son for the attire she wore to a recent Usher concert.
On Monday, The Cut revealed Palmer as its latest cover star. Along with the spread, Palmer also engaged in an exclusive interview where she spoke about embracing her post-pregnancy body. As The Shade Room previously reported, the 29-year-old gave birth to her first child, Leodis Andrellton Jackson, with her boyfriend, Darius Daulton Jackson, in February.
During the interview, Palmer explained that she’s “gotten so much more powerful” since becoming a mother. She explained that before having a child, she was “actually quite self-conscious.”
“After having my baby, I’ve just gotten so much more powerful… Strutting my stuff, enjoying… before I even had the baby, I was really actually quite self-conscious. In a way that you would expect, considering the kind of work that I do as a public figure. I’m always trying to be on point with my body and make sure I’m taking care of this and that. There’s a lot of physical attention. Being slim and being fit in a particular way was always something that I was gunning for…”
However, Palmer explained that since having her son, she’s put on weight in places she never had before.
“After having the baby, my body got so much bigger and I started getting fluff in areas I never had before.”
She continued by explaining that her goal with her fitness trainer had shifted. Additionally, she realized the change in her body was something to “embrace.”
“I was trying to work with my trainer, Corey Calliet, and he was just like, ‘Well, we are never going to try and get your body back to how it was before a baby because you birthed a child.’ It’s like, that’s not something to hide, that’s something to embrace. We’re going to lean into this new body…”
Palmer continued by explaining that today “it’s all about loving who” she is and what she’s experienced.”
“It’s all about loving who I am and loving what I experienced and what I’ve gone through that’s gotten me here. A lot of gratitude for me.”
During the interview, the actor also shared advice for other “new moms” dealing with criticism. The 29-year-old encouraged them to “do you.”
“Do you, new moms. Do you. Girl, if there’s one person on this earth that loves you for sure, it’s that baby. Be happy, because there’s no love like it. Somebody loving you like that, hell, who cares?”
Elsewhere during the interview, the 29-year-old mother of one also touched on living life as a public figure. She explained that “there is such thing as privacy,” but she’s “just a normal person.”
She explained that although she puts her “best foot forward,” she is “flawed” and doesn’t want to be held to an “unbelievable standard.”
“I’m flawed. I definitely try to put my best foot forward. But again, because I don’t like the idealism and I don’t like the kind of era that we are in with fame, I definitely self-deprecate, point to my flaws, constantly say I’m not perfect because I really don’t want people putting me to this unbelievable standard…”
Palmer explained that she doesn’t “live to be a celebrity.” Instead, she lives to “give something positive to the world” and should be allowed to “at least” be herself.
“I don’t live to be a celebrity. I live to do what I love, to share love, to give something positive to the world. Being under a magnifying glass for all of my life, it was kind of a surrender to realizing no matter what I do, it’s never going to be enough, so that’s okay. Let me at least be me.”
