keke-palmer-calls-out-kylie-jenner-for-giving-in-to-extreme-social-pressures-and-not-being-true-to-herself

Akeelah and the Bee actress, Keke Palmer, had an interview with Yahoo Beauty where she revealed quite a lot and called the Kardashians out - Kylie specifically.

Keke, who is an actress, a singer, and a talk show host, said she achieved all that by staying true to herself, irrespective of what society expects of her.

“I haven’t been lying to myself or pretending to be happy when I wasn’t happy or sad when I wasn’t sad,” she told Yahoo Beauty.

She admitted that social media puts pressure on people and makes it hard for them to remain their authentic selves. She gave an example using the Kardashians and said they try so hard to be society's definition of perfect as opposed to being their true selves.

She said: "In the sense of the Kardashians, it’s like I’m going to show you so much perfect and be everything a woman should be or everything a man would like or love. And I’m going to be exactly that so you can’t bully me anymore.

"Specifically in the situation with Kylie, where you’ve had a young girl people have seen on television since she was a kid and they literally told her she was so ugly … the ugly person in the family. She went and did apparently everything the world deems as beautiful. The even crazier part is that everybody loves her for it.

"What I find interesting is that this is something that is being displayed to my generation — showing young girls, young guys that if you do everything that society wants you to be, not only will you be praised for it but you will make money for it. You can be profitable for not being who you truly are."

The 23-year-old said being true to herself is one of the reasons why she cut all her hair. She said she wants to be confident in who she is and not feel uncomfortable anytime she has to go out without a weave. She revealed that when she was younger, she felt like she had to have a certain look because that was how society already saw her and it was what they expected, but she's happy now to be free to do what she's comfortable with. 

She said: "People still try to push me there, even when I cut my hair. They said, 'So why you cut your long and pretty hair?' First of all, that wasn’t all mine. And number two: because I wanted to.

"This is why Brandy will forever be an icon and a legend — because she rocked braids consistently, and that was something we could cling to and look to and say, 'Wow!' She sat up there as the first black singer on CoverGirl and said, 'This is me, Brandy Norwood.'

"For years, I was getting pigeonholed into this specific look, this Keke Palmer look. This black girl with this type of hair look. But when it gets to the point when you feel like you can’t be you without hair on the top of your head that’s not yours, that’s oppression. You’re being oppressed and made to feel like you alone are not enough.

"That’s why I’m able to be happy with myself when people say, 'Oh, she going crazy. She cut her hair.' No, you’re going crazy because you think I’m crazy for wanting to rock my own hair. You’re denying you. You’re not denying me.

"I can still put a wig on, still rock a weave, but at the end of the day still know that this is my hair. It’s curly, it’s kinky, it’s thick, it’s thin sometimes, and I love that. I rock my texture naturally for the world to see, and for me that is a proud moment as a 23-year-old black woman in America."

When asked what advice she would give her younger self, she said: "I would just say always be real with yourself, because at the end of the day that’s all we got. There’s nothing more important in life than being true to ourselves and being 100 percent loving to ourselves. Putting our feelings (first) and how we wanna feel and do that above what anybody thinks no matter how impossible, selfish, weird, scary. or embarrassing that may seem.

"When I realized that, I realized that’s what it means to be confident. Confidence is me making choices that empower me."