Keke Palmer has reflected on the isolation that often comes with fame in her new December cover story for Self magazine.
The 31-year-old actress recently listed her Brooklyn penthouse for sale, and spoke candidly about the challenges that come with being in the spotlight.
“It is lonely. How I deal with it is to not center myself,” she told the magazine in an interview.
“I think about all the other people who feel weird in the world. If we take all the glamour out of it, and all the specifics and uniqueness of what it means to be famous, it just means feeling weird.”
READ ALSO: Fans outraged over WNBA team’s ‘racist’ promotional photoshoot
Palmer first gained attention as a child actor in Barbershop 2: Back in Business (2004) and the starring role in Akeelah and the Bee (2006).
She revealed that fame has created many barriers between others and herself, labeling it as a difficult feeling to process.
“I think everybody in the world feels extraordinarily alienated, and we feel even more alienated when we alienate others,” she said. “That’s what comes with fame. I’m known around the world, and now I’m even less able to connect to the very people I would want to use my fame to connect to. That was probably the hardest part.”
Palmer is a mother of one and stressed on the fact that there is a universal human need for connection in this place called life.
“We all feel deeply, deeply alone. That’s why many of us create families. That’s why many of us find communities, groups to be a part of. That’s why many of us find churches. S***, some of us find cults!”
READ ALSO: Mother who saw little girl’s viral meltdown at Walmart says child is no ‘spoilt brat’
“We’re all alone, and we’re looking for a sense of shared aloneness. As an entertainer, it’s the same thing. There’s a level of being ostracized through fame, but everybody goes through it. It’s not necessarily unique. It feels that way to others and to ourselves at times, but it’s just its own brand of the human experience”, she added.
For now, Keke Palmer continues to inspire many other young women who aim to rise through the ranks on the screens and become famous like she did.
However, her revelations on dealing with fame and the loneliness that comes with it will be a lesson that the lots will now understand, especially for those who aim to tread a similar path.
