Proud mama Keke Palmer is leading with positivity, despite recent online drama involving boyfriend Darius Jackson.
The Nope star shared a sweet tribute to her four-month-old son Leo on Instagram, which appears to include a pointed response to sexist comments Jackson made on social media earlier this week. On Wednesday, the fitness instructor tweeted a video of Palmer attending a performance of Usher’s residency in Las Vegas, where she wore a sheer Givenchy maxi dress over a cheeky black bodysuit. He wrote of the clip, “It’s the outfit tho… you a mom.”
On Monday 10 July, the 29-year-old actor and singer spoke candidly about motherhood in an interview withThe Cut. The conversation marked Palmer’s first interview since the controversy surrounding Jackson began, in which he publicly called out Palmer for wearing a sheer dress to an Usher concert despite being a mother to their five-month-old son, Leodis “Leo” Andrellton Jackson.
Jackson, who welcomed baby boy Leo with Palmer last February, later doubled down on his mommy-shaming comment in a follow-up tweet. “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,” he wrote. “This is my family & my representation. I have standards & morals to what I believe. I rest my case.”
Yesterday, the Hustlers actress released new merch that seems to refer to the incident, dropping the new shirts along with a video clip of herself serenading her newborn with the Stevie Wonder song “Isn’t She Lovely.” In the caption she wrote, “One thing is certain and one thing is true, IM A MOTHA, through and through! 😍 “IM A MOTHA” and “Stevie to the bullshit” shirts available NOW! Link in bio:)”
She added, “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.”
The clip also includes several adorable photos of baby Leo in different outfits, as the mother-son duo spend quality time together.
Palmer and Jackson started dating in early summer 2021 and went Instagram official that August. Following the widespread online backlash to his comments, Jackson briefly deactivated his social media accounts on Thursday before returning Friday, and the trainer has since seemingly deleted all Instagram photos of Palmer, per Page Six. The new parents also do not follow each other on the platform.
Speaking to The Cut, the Hustlers star was asked about her “mental headspace” after Jackson was branded “insecure” for shaming her outfit. In response, Palmer described the newfound confidence she’s gained since welcoming her first child in February.
“After having my baby, I’ve just gotten so much more powerful,” she began. “I’ll be honest, I think 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 – always trying to be on point with my body and always trying to make sure I’m taking care of this and that. There’s a lot of physical attention.”
Fans couldn’t get enough of the “Nope” star’s message, with some interpreting the post as a response to Jackson’s post publicly calling her out for wearing a black bodysuit under a sheer dress to Usher’s Las Vegas residency show.
“And she didn’t even address or disrespect him in public…A Queen and A Motha,” one Instagram user commented on Palmer’s post.
