Keke Palmer wants to give her son “proper role models.”
The actor — who obtained a domestic violence restraining order against former partner Darius Jackson in November and has requested sole legal and physical custody of their 11-month-old son Leodis — believes it “takes a village” to raise a child and she’s keen to keep her little boy surrounded by people she “knows and trusts.”
“The village is really important … It’s more about keeping Leo insulated with the people that I know and trust, that don’t just love him, but love themselves. That’s really big. It’s important that he has good examples. He observes everything. It’s about giving him the proper role models and making sure my family is around,” she told Teen Vogue.
The “Password” host lives with her sister and her siblings’ children “by design.” Palmer’s parents are moving to California soon to be closer to their grandchildren, as that was how she and her cousins grew up.
“Tradition is a big part of the village as well,” she noted.
Palmer is thankful she can be “more patient” and parent the way she wants because she has financial security.
“I 100 percent feel like money doesn’t buy you happiness. I’m not always happy because of my money. But the [financial] security I have with my son is a stress reliever,” she said. “I’m not saying that a mom that is struggling isn’t patient, because I know that they are. But if they’re not, it’s like, ‘I get it, Miss Lady …’ So when I look at the position that I’m in and the kind of parent that I am or that I’m becoming, I think it’s remiss [not] to say that I have a lot of help.”
The Nope actress acknowledged that life hasn’t always gone the way she’d hoped, but she has faith that things will be OK in the end.
“I think life is bittersweet in that way. How I feel about life is that you go through so many different things and it always ends up somewhere beautiful. Sometimes we don’t get what we want, but it all will make sense if you give it a chance. It’ll make sense because God doesn’t forget. It all comes back around,” she said.
