Keke Palmer Defends 'Powerful' Post-Baby Style After Being Mom-Shamed
Keke Palmer has thick skin and an even tougher attitude, coming to her own defense after her boyfriend Darius Jackson publicly mom-shamed her for an outfit she wore to an Usher concert last week.
During a recent conversation with The Cut, Palmer, 29, opened up about her experience styling her post-partum body and how motherhood has seemingly strengthened the relationship she has with herself–despite what Jackson, who is also the father of her baby, may think.
"After having my baby, I’ve just gotten so much more powerful. I’m just so strengthened in a crazy way. Strutting my stuff, enjoying. I’ll be honest, I think before I even had the baby, I was really actually quite self-conscious," she admitted.
Related: Keke Palmer Responds in the Best Way Amid Boyfriend Darius Jackson's Outfit Shaming
The Nope actress continued, explaining that being a public figure made her hyper-aware of her body. "Always trying to be on point with my body and always trying to make sure I’m taking care of this and that," she added. "There’s a lot of physical attention. Being slim and being fit in a particular way was always something that I was gunning for."
It wasn't until after she welcomed baby Leo and began working with her trainer that she felt herself come into her own power.
"After having the baby, my body got so much bigger and I started getting fluff in areas I never had before," she recalled. "I was trying to work with my trainer, Corey Calliet, and he was just like, 'Well, we are never going to try and get your body back to how it was before a baby because you birthed a child.' It’s like, that’s not something to hide, that’s something to embrace. We’re going to lean into this new body. That is the whole aura of what’s happening with me in this big boss era as I come into my 30s and I have my baby boy. I’m just continuing to spread my wings as a young woman."
"My headspace is just to continue to inspire and encourage myself and anybody else who wants to go down that road with me. Because we’re growing and we are changing. It’s all about loving who I am and loving what I experienced and what I’ve gone through that’s gotten me here. A lot of gratitude for me," she noted.
"I speak to my insecurities and it actually makes me feel more confident. Because I’m not trying to hide," she admitted. "When I really talked about my skin issues and stuff like that, it was really for me."
"As I confront my issues head-on and I’m like, 'Well, I feel terrible about this,' or, 'This ain’t work for me,' I turn it into a joke, but I don’t ignore it. I try not to hide it," she said. "Confident people, it’s not that they’re not insecure, it’s that they just accept the fact that they’re going to have some insecurities, work on them when they can, and love themselves. Because at the end of the day, what else are you going to do? Hate yourself for who you’re not?"
Next: Moms Are Up in Arms After Keke Palmer Spoke Out About Experiencing 'Breast Milk Discrimination'
