It’s a legendary debut for your child!
I’m so happy for my child! [Laughs.] Pregnancy is a road. I remember my doctor saying, “Pregnancy isn’t a disease. It’s a natural thing! You don’t have to feel like you’re walking on eggshells.” I honestly feel like the same old me [at] six months along. I really expected something so dramatic. But I’m just pregnant. I have something that’s moving around in there every now and then. That part is creepy sometimes. [Laughs.]
How has your partner, Darius, been through it?
Oh, man, I’ve had unbelievable support. It’s the first scenario for both of us and it’s been an incredibly fun ride. I have a very lonely career, and also a very overwhelming career. To do SNL, for instance, is extremely amazing, but also tough for a multitude of reasons—what it means in terms of your career, how grueling the schedule is. You have to get really focused and the people around you have to be prepared for whatever it does to you. I felt the support of my partner during that in a way that’s not anything I have had before. Ever since I met him, [he’s shown] a selflessness. Making sure that I’m not alone, making sure I have support. I think that’s all you can ask from anyone. And I’ve only ever really had that kind of support from my family—and it’s funny, because now we are family.
That’s beautiful. This year has been amazing for you professionally as well. Nope is a phenomenon. Has this experience changed you, or changed how people look at you?
I definitely think it’s changed how people look at me. People don’t know what you’re capable of until they see what you’re capable of. I’ve changed and I’ve evolved and I’ve grown as a performer, from the 20 years I’ve been doing it. Getting new opportunities on even wider scales has made me an even stronger version of myself.
You also launched your media company, KeyTV and your podcast, Baby, This Is Keke Palmer. In terms of your career, how far ahead do you try to strategize?
I wish I could say that I strategized insanely. I do strategize, but the maximum would be like a month in advance. Maybe a couple months in advance. There’s too many things that can come in and shake shit up. So I’m not over strategizing to that damn degree because then I’m not even able to be focused on the present.
I found out I was doing SNL three weeks before I was doing it. I’m not thinking [what comes] about after SNL, because I need to focus on getting up to it. So I don’t overstrategize past the point. Anything that’s happened to my life, especially how it’s happened this year, it was ordained by forces beyond me. I give it up to God, I give it up to the universe because some of these things I could not have written, you know what I mean? I’m not that good of an author. If you would’ve told me I was gonna be pregnant next year last year, I would’ve been like, Really? I would’ve been totally surprised. I was happy, but I never would have planned it.
