A Timeline of Keke Palmer and Darius Jackson's Low-Key Relationship

Published on 5 Dec 2022 at 20:40

Keke Palmer and her boyfriend Darius Jackson have kept their relationship fairly low-key from the start. But on Dec. 3, Palmer announced she was pregnant while hosting "Saturday Night Live," casting their relationship into the spotlight.

"There's some rumours going around, people have been in my comments saying, 'Keke's having a baby, Keke's pregnant,' and I wanna set the record straight — I am!" Palmer said during her opening monologue. "I gotta say, though — it's bad when people on the Internet spread rumours about you, y'all. But it's even worse when they're correct!" She later added: "This has been the biggest blessing, and I am so excited, guys — I'm going to be a mom."

Palmer's boyfriend is the brother of "Insecure" alum Sarunas Jackson. He's also an aspiring actor himself, per Elle, and works as a fitness instructor at Inspire Fitness Studio and runs a fitness YouTube channel, according to Us Weekly.

Aside from a few romantic Instagram tributes to each other, Palmer and Jackson have kept their relationship relatively private over the years, but here's what we know about their romance.

May 2021: Keke Palmer and Darius Jackson Meet

Palmer and Jackson reportedly met at a Memorial Day party hosted by Diddy and Issa Rae, according to Us Weekly.

August 2021: Keke Palmer and Darius Jackson Make Their Relationship Instagram Official

In a since-deleted Instagram post, Jackson shared his affection for Palmer and wrote, "Never would have expected summer 2021 to turn out the way it did, but here we are," per People. "I'm glad we were able to help each other throughout our lowest of times & show one another that what we are bringing to the table is everything that we got."

October 2021: Keke Palmer Shares Her Love For Darius Jackson on Instagram

In October 2021, Palmer took to Instagram to express her feelings for Jackson in a since-deleted video. "Without being too mushy because I HATEEEE THAT, it feels really nice to not be afraid to show this kind of care for someone that I don't share the same blood with," she wrote, per Life & Style. "I thought it could never happen, I can be quite guarded, but I appreciate you for being a safe space. I will always cherish what you have given me."

In a November 2021 interview on "The Tamron Hall Show," Palmer explained why she'd decided to make the couple's romance Instagram official. "It became more difficult to hide," she said. "We spend all this time together, and he really is my closest friend, so it just becomes a thing where I'm not gonna hide something that makes me happy. It's not gonna be everything you see, my job is my job, but at the end of the day this is somebody that is important to me so why not."

March 2022: Keke Palmer and Darius Jackson Delete Their Instagram Photos of Each Other

In a March 17 interview with Bustle, Palmer talked about how committed she is to her relationship. "I just think [this] was a moment in time in my life where I really stepped into this kind of boss behaviour [of doing] whatever the hell I want to do," she said of her decision to go public with Jackson. "This is the happiest I've ever felt with someone. So why would I go out of my way to hide this person? That's a lot more work than just living in my life and being in my life. You know what I'm saying?"

However, about a week later, fans noticed that Palmer and Jackson deleted all photos of each other off of their Instagram pages. They also both unfollowed each other, according to OK Magazine, leading to breakup rumours. The two still don't appear to be following each other on Instagram, but one TikTok of the pair has remained up on Palmer's account — a clip of the couple sharing a kiss behind a fan, along with the caption, "Lady Miss takes what she WANTS."

December 2022: Keke Palmer Announces She's Pregnant

Palmer unveiled her baby bump on a Dec. 3 episode of "Saturday Night Live," which she hosted. After the show, she posted a long thank you message on Instagram — which ended with a shoutout to Jackson. "thank you to my other half @dvulton for giving me the things that only true unity can bring," she wrote. "Love is all we have isn't it, you do nothing in this world alone and trust me, I am not alone!"

Jackson also paid tribute to his girlfriend after the show, sharing a photo of a pregnant Palmer on his Instagram Story with the caption "2023" and a red heart emoji.