Keke Palmer knows that the painful details of her relationship with ex Darius Jackson were considered a "toxic dynamic" to fans.
The actress-singer, who stars in upcoming buddy comedy One of Them Days, briefly discussed her breakup with Jackson in a new The Cut interview, where she addressed their relationship getting the "toxic" label.
"There’s a sensationalization that happens with that word," Palmer told the publication. "But there really are often no other words to describe such a toxic dynamic."
Palmer, who shares a toddler, Leodis, with Jackson, accused her ex-boyfriend of abuse in late 2023, before the two had a turbulent legal battle involving a restraining order and child custody. After attending mediation, Palmer and Jackson have since dropped the petition.
"You can say, ‘I know you’re not like that,’ or ‘I know it’s not like this,’ or ‘I know you’re a good person deep down,'" Palmer told The Cut about the excuses she'd make for Jackson. "You can make so many excuses for behavior that could have stopped."
Palmer also "hated" the public attention that the breakdown of her and Jackson's relationship received. "It was my personal junk. It didn’t deserve a place in the center of something that I worked very hard to make encouraging and empowering," she said.
"When it was happening, it was horrible because I could not get to the message of the story, in real time. Now, I’m able to articulate it, and I’m able to say what the story will be."
Palmer's fans noticed trouble in her relationship with Jackson after he had a negative reaction to the actress wearing a sheer dress to Usher's Las Vegas residency in the summer of 2023.
Last October, in a People cover story, Palmer was more optimistic about co-parenting with Jackson, who's since joined the military.
"I wish I could say he was terrible the entire time or that I was ... but it wasn’t that black-and-white and that was the problem," Palmer told the publication. "I didn’t want my son to think his father is a monster, because I don’t."
