Keke Palmer survived child stardom – and managed to 'reinvent myself'

Patrick Ryan, USA TODAYWed, May 27, 2026 at 8:21 PM UTC

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NEW YORK – Keke Palmer’s new movie is near-impossible to describe.

In Boots Riley’s “I Love Boosters” (in theaters now), the child star-turned-multihyphenate plays an aspiring designer named Corvette, who leads a group of shoplifters in stealing from high-fashion stores and reselling the merchandise at lower prices. The eye-popping film is frequently surreal and satirical – think sex demons, workers’ strikes and skinless corporate pawns – but Palmer immediately understood Riley’s audacious vision.

“I was like, ‘I want to go down this lane and see what he's going to bring out of me, because I don't think it's going to be like any experience I've ever had,’ ” Palmer, 32, says. “At this point, having done this for so many years, you need that kind of experience.”

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Keke Palmer felt pressure 'to be perfect' as a child actress

With "I Love Boosters," Keke Palmer says she went back to that mental headspace "before I found out how to be the author of my story."

Despite its whimsical absurdity, “I Love Boosters” is one of Palmer’s most intensely relatable projects yet. For starters, she shares Corvette’s hustle and determination, having started working at age 9. After breakthrough movie roles in “Barbershop 2” and “Akeelah and the Bee,” Palmer became a household name among families as the star of Nickelodeon’s “True Jackson, VP,” which ran for three seasons.

Palmer came from a modest upbringing in the Chicago suburbs, the daughter of a teacher and a Catholic deacon. By 12, she was the main breadwinner for her parents and three siblings.

Corvette (Keke Palmers) leads a shoplifting ring and winds up inspiring an anti-capitalist revolution in "I Love Boosters."

“It probably did a lot more to my nervous system than I understand,” Palmer says now. “The adaptive intelligence that I’ve been able to create, by way of trying to survive my circumstances, has made me a strong performer. But the cost has been not always being embodied.”

For years, “I was functioning from that side of myself that needed to be perfect,” Palmer adds. And like her “Boosters” character, she struggled for a long time with anxiety, which is represented by a giant boulder of negativity and stress that literally chases Corvette around.

Keke Palmer on the Los Angeles set of her music video for "All My Girlz" in 2006.

But the actress and singer eventually found practices like strength training and vinyasa flow yoga that help “take my mind off things and focus on something that feels rejuvenating.” And when her schedule allows, she enjoys attending spiritual and wellness retreats: “I love a conference. I’m so in that bag.”

The main antagonist of “Boosters” is Christie Smith (Demi Moore), a fast-fashion mogul whom Corvette idolizes before Christie steals one of her designs. Palmer credits women in her own life such as Queen Latifah, Jessica Alba and former first lady Michelle Obama for supporting her behind the scenes as she’s branched out into producing, hosting, podcasting and other business ventures. Thankfully, she’s never encountered anyone quite as condescending as Christie.

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Keke Palmer says she wants to model her own artistic ambitions off Quincy Jones, Maya Angelou and James Baldwin.

“I really do give people the benefit of the doubt when it comes to meeting somebody that is exceptional in this industry and they're maybe not as friendly or open to share,” Palmer says. “They've probably been doing this for a long time. Not to make excuses, but I don't always personalize that, especially in a workspace.”

That said, the infectiously charismatic A-lister has a low tolerance for negativity.

“I don't come to work with a good attitude because I just want people to think I'm nice,” Palmer says. “It's because I also want to have a good day. I've never understood why some people's version of power translates into making everybody miserable. One of the biggest things about my personality is like, ‘Let's get through the day!’ ”

Why the 'I Love Boosters' star chooses to live below her means

Keke Palmer poses for a portrait in New York on May 21.

From a young age, Palmer’s parents taught her to be practical and mindful with money. She and her 3-year-old son, Leo, live with her sisters. She doesn’t have an assistant, and she chooses to run her social media pages herself. In 2021, she launched her own content platform KeyTV Network, which spotlights underrepresented voices.

“I spent over 3 million of my own dollars to produce content for creators that were looking for a chance, and I didn't get any of it back,” Palmer says. “Some people might say, ‘What the f--- was that?’ But to me, that made more sense than me getting a Rolls-Royce, because I feel like that will come back to me. That’s where my frugality comes from: Is it going to appreciate? If it's really not, then I don't see the point of going too hard in the paint.”

“Boosters” marks an exciting new era for the beloved meme queen, who stars in the highly anticipated “Spaceballs: The New One” next year. As a young twentysomething, Palmer felt boxed into supporting roles playing the funny best friend and sidekick. But more recently, she’s taken the lead in hit films such as “Nope” and “One of Them Days,” and Peacock series “The 'Burbs.”

“After ‘True Jackson, VP’ finished, I went through the typical phase that any child entertainer goes through where people don't know what your brand is anymore outside of being a kid, so they don't really know where to place you as an artist,” Palmer says. “I really was able to reinvent myself through social media, or more specifically, the digital era.”

For a while, “people made me feel like I was going down the wrong path or they didn't get what I was doing,” Palmer says. “It was a very limited perspective that they had for me. I always saw myself as a performer, but also a brand. … A lot of times when people would criticize me, it would be coming from a place of thinking that my end goal was to just get an Oscar.”

In reality, “I really cared about being more of a cultural fixture than anything.”

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: 'I Love Boosters' star Keke Palmer reveals 'cost' of childhood fame

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