She recently welcomed her son Leodis with boyfriend Darius Jackson, but now, Keke Palmer is getting candid about life after her pregnancy. In a recent interview with PEOPLE, the actress is giving some advice to new moms who may sometimes feel pressured to lose the weight they’ve gained throughout the nine months of carrying their newborn. Palmer makes it clear that she hasn’t stressed herself to shed the pounds she’s put on, saying she does whatever she feels necessary in order to “feel good” about herself.
She explained that after welcoming Leodis, she didn’t want to do anything – not even speak to people. But as time passed, the 29-year-old’s mindset changed and she started turning to fitness to get active again. With that said, however, one of the things Palmer would want to tell any new mom is to “keep it real” and never get caught up in the hype of it all, particularly when seeing other new celebrity moms who are so quick to get their body back in shape.
“Anytime you see a celebrity doing a snap back or whatever like that, it’s part of the damn gig,” she explained. “A part of our jobs is to look good and to look the part. So don’t think it’s this thing where it’s like, ‘We doing it because we got it like that.’ No, the job is on the line. If we want the checks to get signed, we got to be what we got to be.”
Speaking of her own experience after becoming a mom, she continued, “I’ve gone on my own personal journey with how I feel about my physical appearance. And I think the main thing I’ve learned through my experience is to do what makes me feel happy. If I feel like I need to hold it back and I need to do a little bit more work, or [if] I want to feel better about myself, I just do it.”
“Other times I’m like, ‘Yo, pull up in the drive-through. I want the number five, large.’ You know what I mean? I do what I feel when I need to, because sometimes taking it easy, that is what you need.”
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Throughout her pregnancy journey, Palmer kept things mostly private, sharing only occasional glimpses into her life as an expectant mother. In one Instagram post, she shared a photo of herself cradling her baby bump, writing that she was so in love with her unborn child. In another post, she revealed how being pregnant had given her radiant and blemish-free skin.
Despite the challenges that usually come with any pregnancy, Palmer remained focused on her work and stayed committed to her career throughout the nine months as she now gears up to drop her new album, “Big Boss.”