Who Is Keke Palmer's Ex-Boyfriend? All About Darius Jackson
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Keke Palmer filed a restraining order against Darius Jackson in November 2023. She is also seeking sole custody of their son
Keke Palmer took legal action against ex-boyfriend Darius Jackson after he allegedly physically abused her on multiple occasions.
In November 2023, she was granted a temporary domestic violence restraining order against Jackson and temporary sole custody of their son, Leodis "Leo" Andrellton Jackson, whom they welcomed in February 2023.
The couple's relationship began to show its cracks in July 2023 when the fitness instructor made headlines for criticizing the outfit Palmer wore to an Usher concert in Las Vegas.
"It's the outfit tho.. you a mom," he tweeted in response to photos of his girlfriend in a sheer dress. Jackson deleted his X account, formerly known as Twitter, 24 hours later after facing backlash.
Palmer seemingly responded to Jackson during her appearance in Usher's music video for his single "Boyfriend," which dropped in August 2023. At the end of the video, Palmer wakes up in a hotel bed and answers a phone call, saying, “Yes, yes. Hello? What time is it? Damn it! I missed the show.” She continues, “I’m so tired,” before looking into the camera to say, “I’m mother, after all,” with a wink.
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In December 2023, Jackson filed his own domestic violence restraining order against Palmer, claiming that she “engaged in abusive conduct during the two-and-a-half-year relationship."
Here's everything to know about Darius Jackson and his former relationship with the Nope actress.
His brother is Insecure actor Sarunas Jackson
Jackson's brother Sarunas J. Jackson is an actor, like Palmer. He is well known for playing Isaac Hall on Good Trouble and Alejandro 'Dro' Peña on Insecure, in which the actress previously had a guest-starring role.
He and Palmer started dating in 2021
The couple reportedly met in May 2021 at a Memorial Day party hosted by Issa Rae and Diddy. That August, the two went "Instagram official" as Jackson paid tribute to Palmer on her birthday.
"Never would have expected summer 2021 to turn out the way it did, but here we are," he wrote in the since-deleted post. "I'm glad we were able to help each other throughout our lowest of times & show one another that what we are bringing to the table is everything that we got."
He and Palmer kept their relationship private
In March 2020, before dating Jackson, Palmer spoke to Harper's Bazaar about why she likes to keep her dating life private.
"I don't really do relationship stuff online, mainly because I don't know how I would do it without looking, like, cheesy or something, you know?" she told the outlet. "Yes, I'm a hundred percent authentic, but there is stuff that I do save for family and friends."
In November 2021, Palmer opened up on The Tamron Hall Show about her decision to go public with her relationship with Jackson. "It became more difficult to hide," she said of choosing to post photos with Jackson at the time. "We spend all this time together, and he really is my closest friend, so it just becomes a thing where I'm not gonna hide something that makes me happy."
"It's not gonna be everything you see, my job is my job, but at the end of the day this is somebody that is important to me so why not," Palmer added.
He played football in college
His Inspire Fitness Studio bio also states that Jackson grew up competing in multiple sports and earned a football scholarship to Fresno State University. Growing up in the sports world also "motivated him to get into sports media where he is currently pursuing his career in & received a certificate in broadcasting," per the website.
Currently, Jackson works as a fitness instructor at Inspire Fitness Studio. Per the fitness center's website, "his motivation to be an instructor is to help others and himself to stay in shape as he enjoys being in a team oriented environment. It is also where he feels comfortable to be himself."
He and Palmer share a son
While hosting Saturday Night Live in December 2022, Palmer announced that she was expecting her first child.
"There's some rumors going around, people have been in my comments saying, 'Keke's having a baby, Keke's pregnant,' and I wanna set the record straight — I am!" Palmer exclaimed, unbuttoning her long jacket to reveal her growing baby bump on the Studio 8H stage.
On Feb. 25, 2023, Palmer gave birth to Leodis Andrellton Jackson. Two days later, Jackson and Palmer introduced "baby Leo" to the world on Instagram.
"Hey Son!!!! Born during Black History Month, with a name to match 😄!" Palmer captioned images and videos from the first "48hrs" of being a parent.
He faced backlash after criticizing one of Palmer's outfits
Keke Palmer/Instagram
Jackson wasn't pleased that Palmer wore a sheer dress to an Usher concert in Las Vegas in July 2023.
"It's the outfit tho.. you a mom," he tweeted. "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."
The fitness instructor received enough backlash from his followers and fans of Palmer that he decided to delete his Twitter account. As for the Alice actress, she proceeded to share several photos of the outfit on her Instagram.
During an appearance on Palmer's podcast, Baby, This is Keke Palmer, which was recorded before Jackson's Twitter drama, Jackson said he held Palmer to a “perfect standard” after going public with their relationship.
“At first, it definitely was hard because it could all be very overwhelming," he said. "It was definitely overwhelming and intense at first."
"And it's like, you almost feel that pressure of needing to be perfect,” Jackson continued. “And so, it really confused me and infiltrated my mind because not only did I have to hold myself to that perfect standard, I was also holding you to a perfect standard as well.”
Palmer filed a restraining order against him in November 2023
Paras Griffin/Getty Images (2)
Palmer filed a domestic violence restraining order against Jackson, which claimed that he physically abused her multiple times during their two-year relationship.
The most recent instance allegedly took place on Nov. 5, 2023.
"Darius trespassed into my home without my knowledge or consent, threatened me, then physically attacked me — lunging for my neck, striking me, throwing me over the couch, and stealing my phone when I told him I was going to call the police," court documents stated.
Palmer detailed two other alleged instances of physical abuse. She claimed that "Darius body slammed me onto the stairs by my neck" in her Los Angeles home and "grabbed my prescription eyeglasses away from me, threw them on the ground and stomped on them" while the couple were in Santa Barbara, California.
"The abuse during our relationship was not just physical, but emotional and manipulative," the filing for the restraining order read. "Darius would 'love bomb' me and make me feel like I was the most important woman in the world, only to get extremely distant and cold over a perceived insult to him."
Palmer also filed for sole custody of Leo. The court documents claimed that Jackson "hit" Palmer and "spew[ed] profanities" about her in front of their son.
Later that month, Palmer was granted a temporary restraining order against Jackson and temporary sole custody of Leo.
Jackson responded by filing his own domestic violence restraining order in December 2023. According to court documents, Palmer allegedly “engaged in abusive conduct" and “frequently became agitated and aggressive after consuming alcohol."
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