Keke Palmer says motherhood has helped her own her power.
Appearing on the cover of July’s issue of The Cut, the new mom, 29, says she’s “gotten so much more powerful” since welcoming Leodis “Leo” Andrellton, 4 months, with Darius Jackson.
“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,” she told the outlet.
The Baby, This Is Keke Palmer host continued, “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.”
After putting pressure on herself to get back to her pre-baby body, Palmer talked about how trainer Corey Calliet helped her embrace the changes that came with motherhood.
“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,” she noted.
“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.”
When asked to share advice with other moms in her position, Palmer urged, “Do you, new moms. Do you.”
“Girl, if there’s one person on this earth that loves you for sure, it’s that baby. Be happy, because there’s no love like it,” she continued. “Somebody loving you like that, hell, who cares?”
On Saturday, Jackson shared a photo of son Leo on his lap during a flight, one day after the actress mom posted a similar video from a plane, singing a rendition of Stevie Wonder’s “Isn’t She Lovely” to their son.
“One thing is certain and one thing is true, IM A MOTHA, through and through! ????,” she commented her post.
Palmer’s comments come amid drama between herself and Jackson, stemmed from a Twitter post on Wednesday night when Jackson quoted a tweet showing a video of Palmer dancing with Usher alongside the text, “It’s the outfit tho.. you a mom.”
In a second tweet elaborating on his stance, he wrote, “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,” he added.
Jackson briefly deactivated his social media accounts on Thursday before returning Friday. Eagle-eyed followers noticed that posts including Palmer were missing from his Instagram account. The new parents are no longer following each other on that platform.
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