Keke Palmer is providing a glimpse at the challenges faced by child actors.
On a Nov. 20 episode of Shannon Sharpe’s “Club Shay Shay” podcast, Palmer said that her first major on-screen kiss — with fellow actor Corbin Bleu in the 2007 Disney film “Jump In!” — felt weird.
“How did that go over with your parents?” Sharpe asked.
“It was actually a big thing for all of us, because I was 12 and Corbin was 17,” Palmer said.
Although Bleu sought to make her feel comfortable by holding her hand, Palmer said that he gave off a “brother vibe,” which added to the strangeness of the situation.
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“I remember I had a call with my agent, and I was like: ‘I’m scared about this. This is weird,’” she told Sharpe. According to Palmer, her agent seemed to dismiss these concerns by saying that an underage Meagan Good had kissed an adult Samuel L. Jackson in the 1997 movie “Eve’s Bayou.”
“I was just like, ‘Huh?’” Palmer said, remembering that she wondered what she was “supposed to do with that” information.
She told Sharpe, laughing, “I feel like that was weird, too!”
The “Akeelah and the Bee” star noted that such situations can lead young actors to question the separation between their craft and their personal lives.
“There’s a weird thing that happens with kid entertainers, where we have to literally dissociate so much as an adult would in the workplace, in ways that’s not normal or common,” Palmer said. She went on to say that she wished “there was more therapy for kid entertainers on set.”
Palmer noted that productions may employ intimacy coaches, who aim to ensure the comfort and safety of performers in sensitive scenes. But she said young actors may still wonder, “Is this my real-life experience, or is this someone else?”
Sharpe asked “how soon” Palmer was “able to delineate” between her reality as a child and her work as an actor.
“That took some time. … There would be an element of method acting,” Palmer said. She then reminisced about starring in the movie “Joyful Noise” with Queen Latifah, recalling how, as a child actor, she had to pull from “dark things” in her life to get into character.
But as Palmer’s gotten older and had more experience, she said: “I’ve been able to separate myself in other ways. … I moved away from California for a while.” The actor said her experiences on Broadway at age 21 also helped mold her into the performer and person she is now.
And she had some help getting there. During a recent appearance on the podcast “The Toast,” Palmer recalled how in her late teens she received a message from actor Will Smith that sought to encourage her in her career. She described seeking counsel from an attorney when her relationship with her parents became strained amid her stardom — and the touching words from Smith that helped guide her.
“Hey, Keke. It’s Will,” his message said, according to Palmer. “I just want to let you know I talked to [your lawyer]. … He let me know everything you’re going through, and I want you to know, sometimes it’s hard being the first, but you’ll get through.”
Palmer said this advice could apply to not only child entertainers, but others who are “firsts” in their family — like the first one to go to college, or the first to get married.
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Palmer added that Smith told her to “just keep staying focused, love on your family and y’all going to be good.”