Cover: Keke Palmer covers Vibe Vixen

She's only 18 but actress Keke Palmer has been on a role. The teen has snagged starring gigs on both the big and small screens, and she doesn’t seem to be slowing down anytime soon. She’s currently the star of her own Nickelodeon show ‘True Jackson, VP’, which helped her become the fourth highest paid child star on television, and has a new movie hitting theaters titled, ‘Joyful Noise,’ co-starring Queen Latifah and Dolly Parton. She’s also getting ready to film a juicy new role in the film, “A Virgin Mary.”

Recently, Palmer sat down with Vibe Vixen to talk about her career, her love life, and how she manages not to be typecast.

On How She Met Her Boyfriend
One day Patrick [Johnson, Jr.] came to the set of True Jackson VP, and he brought Rodney, my boyfriend, with him. My mouth dropped when I saw him, and I’m just like, Keke, control yourself! [Laughs] I was 15 years old at the time, and he was 19, so we didn’t talk or anything like that. I just always had a huge crush on him. Then when I was like 17, I talked to my parents ’cause my mom was like, ‘If you want to date somebody, I guess the oldest age would be 21.’ I just couldn’t believe that she said that to me. It really almost made my heart skip a beat because I always liked him.

On Intercultural Relationships
I’ve thought about it. It always seemed so difficult to me because I want to be understood culturally. When I’ve had crushes on other cultures, sometimes they don’t understand. They don’t get my jokes, they don’t get who I am or my family or anything like that. It’s not like I don’t find white guys or [other cultures] attractive, it’s just I want to be understood.

My boyfriend now is Guatemalan and Black, and he was raised by his mother who is Guatemalan, so he’s the only Black person. It’s culturally different, but I realized I can still find a way to understand [them]. Even though everyone is speaking Spanish around me and I don’t understand it, his mother is so kind and open that there’s not a problem. I don’t feel like I’m an outsider.

On Her Upcoming Role in the Film ‘A Virgin Mary’
We haven’t started to film it yet, but I’m very excited because this is something new for me. People have always known me, as I said, as Keke Palmer the “good girl.” In this movie, I’m not necessarily being a huge slut, but my character is just that. She’s like, ‘I’m a sex enthusiast. That’s who I am,’ but the reason why I chose this film was because it’s different from what everybody knows me as. And this character spoke to me because she was funny, she was likeable… Even if I didn’t play the character, you would immediately love her because she’s just lovable. It’s almost like [Draya] on Basketball Wives LA. People can say whatever they want about her, but you like Draya because that’s who she is. You either like her or you don’t. No fronting, no nothing.


Cute couple!

Read more at Vibe Vixen when the issue drops on January 9.