The relationship between American actress, singer and TV host Lauren Keyana “Keke” Palmer and her ex-boyfriend, Darius Jackson has continued to garner reactions from their families and online shippers.
The Genesis
Keke Palmer, 30, and Daris Jackson, 29, met at an after-party for the movie premiere ‘Insecure’ in 2021 and kick-started a relationship in June. In June 2023 during one of her several interviews, Plamer disclosed that she made the move with Jacson after she walked up to him. However, she noted that she wasn’t looking for ‘love’ but a roaster.
Jackson is an aspiring actor who has worked as a fitness trainer.
The couple dated on and off and it became obvious their relationship was far from perfect. As expected, up until 2022, they deleted romantic pictures of themselves on their social media pages.
In one of the deleted posts, Jackson praised Plamer on her birthday and seized the opportunity to publicly announce their relationship.
It must have been a planned effort as Palmer who has always noted that she is a private person decided to go public with her relationship in November 2021. She acknowledged Jackson as her best friend and proclaimed that it was the happiest she had ever been.
The Baby
In December 2022, while hosting an episode of ‘Saturday Night Live’, Palmer unveiled her pregnancy to the world.
In an open monologue, Palmer said
“People have been in my comments saying ‘Keke’s having a baby, Keke’s pregnant.’ “And I want to set the record straight — I am!”
Palmer proceeded to open her coat to reveal her baby bump. She said
“This has been the biggest blessing and I am so excited”
In February 2023, Plamer disclosed that Jackson found her positive test result in their trash can. She noted that she randomly took the test assuming she was pregnant but she didn’t wait long enough for the test and mistakenly trashed the kit.
In a podcast interview, Jackson clarified that he wasn’t looking for the test result in their trash but found the positive result after Palmer threw it away mistakenly.
In late February, Plamer and Jackson welcomed their son, Leodis Andrellton Jackson. They took to Instagram a few days after his arrival to share beautiful pictures of him and reveal his name.
In June, Palmer honoured Jackson in a heartfelt Instagram post for his inaugural Father’s Day, affectionately referring to him as the “best dad ever.”
“Leodis and I are so very happy to have such a fun, kind, responsible, dependable and supportive man like you in our lives. It’s so wonderful to see the kind of loving father you are, but I’m not surprised,” Palmer wrote at the time, adding: “God bless you darling, thank you for being in our lives. WE LOVE YOU!”
The Controversies
Trouble began on microblogging platform X formally known as Twitter in July 2023 after Jackson reacted to a video of Palmer being serenaded by singer, Usher at a Las Vegas concert. In the video, she wore a black bodysuit beneath a transparent black dress.
Jackson tweeted,
“It’s the outfit tho.. you a mom,” he tweeted in response to the video. Jackson later doubled down on his comments as online criticism of him mounted, writing:
“We live in a generation where a man of the family doesn’t want the wife & mother to his kids to showcase booty cheeks to please others & he gets told how much of a hater he is. This is my family & my representation. I have standards & morals to what I believe. I rest my case.”
Palmer, on her end, chose not to address the comments directly. Instead, she posted additional photos of herself in the outfit on Instagram. She wrote; “I wish I had taken more pictures”
Palmer responded to Jackson’s remarks by launching “I’m a Motha” merchandise on social media.
“To all my mom’s out there, how did your baby change you?? Mine empowered me!”
“On such another level, my perspective changed because when my baby is good I’m GREAT! Look at that face! Gratitude galore.”
In early August when Usher’s music video was released, Palmer appeared in a white bathrobe, preparing for a night with friends. As the video progressed, Palmer and Usher coincidentally met at a casino, both dressed in the same outfit.
In a surprising turn of events at the video’s conclusion, it was disclosed that Palmer had overslept and missed all the excitement. She said,
“Dammit, I missed the show. Shit, I’m so tired. I’m a mother after all.”
The Break-Up, Abuse and Custody Battle
Following this, the new parents suddenly went mute on each other; however, they celebrated Palmer’s 30th birthday on the 26th of August.
During an Instagram live, Palmer said to Jackson
“D, know you’ve been taking me out on my birthday as always. I mean, it’s not always my birthday but you always do take me out. “But I just thank you for making it special for my birthday, that’s so sweet.”
In return, Jackson called the palmer his “partner in crime”. He honoured her with a now-deleted post on X, by sharing a video of a makeup-free Palmer playing with their son.
Captioning the post, he wrote
“Happy Birthday to a one of a kind being. Hoping your 30s brings you many joys & triumphs!”
In early October, Palmer filed a restraining order against Jackson and disclosed that their relationship had ended for good.
She claimed that Jackson had been physically and emotionally harmful to her on multiple occasions during their relationship.
In her statement, Palmer recounted the latest incident on 5th November, where Jackson allegedly intruded into her home and physically assaulted her, causing her to fall and pinning her to the couch.
In the request for a restraining order, Palmer also mentioned instances where Jackson had damaged her belongings, tossed her car keys to prevent her from leaving, physically harmed her, used offensive language in front of their son, and threatened to harm himself with a gun if she ended their relationship.
Palmer detailed another episode in February 2022, alleging that Jackson had choked her and forcefully thrown her onto the stairs.
Temporary sole custody of their son was awarded to Palmer, and Jackson is prohibited from visiting his son and required to remain at least 100 yards away from both mother and son unless the court issues a different order.
When reports about Palmer’s restraining order surfaced, taking to X, Jackson tweeted,
“I love you, son. See you soon,” alongside a picture of himself and his son.
Darius Jackson Counter-sues Keke Palmer
In a shocking twist of events, Darius Jackson filed a restraining alleging she abused him for several years.
According to court documents, Jackson stated that Palmer verbally and physically abusive toward him during their two-year relationship.
During one incident, which allegedly took place in August 2021, Jackson claimed that an agitated and aggressive Palmer punched him in the face at a birthday party.
He claimed in the docs that her friend Lenoria Addison was present and “tried to stop” the former Nickelodeon star from allegedly hitting Jackson.
The dad of one then attached screenshots of alleged text messages from Palmer where she apologizes for hitting him.
“I am sorry for hitting you”
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