Keke Palmer took on the lead role in the Nickelodeon series “True Jackson, VP” from 2008 to 2011. Despite the show not being created by Dan Schneider, Palmer’s mother Sharon revealed that the environment on set was still a little weird.
“I honestly do remember you having a lot to say about the Dan Schneider sets,” Palmer said to her mother on a recent episode of her podcast, Baby, This Is Keke Palmer. “I remember you feeling a way about Nickelodeon.” Which Sharon replied saying, “My honest opinion is that I thought the whole atmosphere of the Dan Schneider set was very weird, very cultish. The parents were very secretive, and I honestly thought they all took themselves way too seriously.”
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Sharon and her daughter could have easily taken themselves too seriously, considering that Palmer had already made a name for herself in movies like “Akeelah and the Bee” before joining Nickelodeon. However, Sharon explains that their early success provided them with a valuable perspective. “I always looked at you being at Nickelodeon as being a stopping station,” she said. “You didn’t get your start on Nickelodeon or Disney. You were blessed and fortunate enough to work in adult situations and kid situations. My mentality about the entertainment business wasn’t that Disney Channel or Nickelodeon was the end all to be all, but a lot of the parents did.”
It is possible that their grounded perspective helped Sharon and her daughter navigate the industry unharmed, unlike others who were not as fortunate. Reflecting on Drake Bell’s account of abuse by adults within Nickelodeon, Sharon expressed deep sadness, empathizing with how his parents may have felt trapped in such a situation.
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The level of parental involvement in the careers of child actors can vary significantly, with some being deeply engaged in their child’s success while others take a more hands-off approach. Keke Palmer mentioned that her mother’s active involvement was sometimes a source of conflict between them.
“In my experiences with you in this industry, I had moments where people tried to push us away from each other or try to come in between us,” she said. “You would never allow that kind of thing to go down. It created tension in our relationship—I definitely felt overly controlled and confined and almost like I was in a prison sometimes. But when I look back, I feel like you were really just being protective of me.”