“Can I be myself?”: Keke Palmer opens up about her sexuality on Raven-Symoné’s podcast

On a new installment of The Best Podcast Ever with Raven and Miranda, Keke Palmer told hosts Raven-Symoné and her wife Miranda Maday about her sexuality journey.

Palmer said she remembers “vividly” how Ellen DeGeneres‘ show was canceled shortly after her famous “I’m gay” episode. “I never forgot that as a kid…that kinda stuck…in my brain, you know, ‘I could be outcasted [sic]’ or ‘something is quote-unquote wrong with you,'” she said. 

As a result, Keke said she repressed being open about her sexuality. She explained that while she grew up in a religious family, “my parents were never like, ‘You’re religious, you go to hell if you’re gay. They weren’t like that at all,” however, there was an “unspoken thing” that kept her from exploring.

She expressed, “…Because I like guys too, it was like that’s another extra thing that no one really has to know about. I don’t really have to live out.”

When the 29-year-old Nope actress turned “17 or 18,” however, “I was kinda like, ‘I want to explore my life…You know, I want to … stop judging or overthinking my thoughts or feeling like this isn’t something I can explore.” 

Keke added she found, “acceptance of that part of myself,” calling it, “part of my process of being able to have love in my life.”

“There was a moment in my life where I was like ya know, can I be myself?” She added, “I guess you just get to the point where I want to have my life be my own life.”

Palmer shares 5-month-old son Leodis with boyfriend Darius Jackson.

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