Keke Palmer lifts the lid on the toxic side of child stardom after rising to fame on Nickelodeon

Keke Palmer has lifted the lid on the toxic side of child stardom, after rising to fame on Nickelodeon.

The actress, 31, who fronted sitcom True Jackson, VP in 2008, said being a young star was ‘dehumanising’.

Despite the television channel catapulting her into fame, Keke said there were often downfalls to her early rise in fame.

She told the Independent: ‘It was very, very stressful. I had to deal with a lot of opinions and thoughts that no kid really wants to deal with.  

‘But because I’m happy with my life now, I can’t really sit here and regret any of it or harbour any resentment towards it because I’m out the other side. 

‘It’s hard to be a child performer. It can be joyful while it can also be dehumanising, and I work really hard to be transparent about that with the next generation.’

Keke Palmer, 31, has lifted the lid on the toxic side of child stardom, after rising to fame on Nickelodeon (pictured earlier this month)

The actress, who fronted sitcom True Jackson, VP in 2008 (pictured), said being a young star was often ‘dehumanising’

It’s no doubt Keke was forced to grow up quickly, having been the breadwinner of the household and earning a salary way above her parents. 

Explaining how ‘crazy’ it was to earn more than her parents, she explained she was always the one supporting her family financially.

Nickelodeon has come under scrutiny for allegations of a toxic work environment at a handful of their children’s sitcoms.

Keke and her mother Sharon Palmer previously looked back on her work as a child star on Nickelodeon shows.

Sharon called the atmosphere on the network’s sets ‘very weird’ and ‘very cultish’ amid a time Dan Schneider had multiple successful shows.

The Emmy-winning actress, on her Baby, This Is Keke Palmer podcast in 2024, tackled the tough topic of the Investigation Discovery docuseries that aired last year, Quiet on Set: The Dark Side of Kids TV, and allegations of misconduct made against Schneider. 

The Illinois-born entertainer told her mother on the podcast, ‘I honestly do remember you having a lot to say about the Dan Schneider sets … I remember you feeling a way about Nickelodeon … I want to hear what you have to say.’

Keke had appeared on 56 episodes in the eponymous role on the Nickelodeon show True Jackson, VP from 2008–2011. (Schneider was not involved in the series.)

Despite the television channel catapulting her into fame, Keke said there were often downfalls to her early rise in fame (pictured in 2005)

It’s no doubt Keke was forced to grow up quickly, having been the bread winner of the household and earning a salary way above her parents

Sharon said she was made uncomfortable by the general atmosphere and conduct of the other parents in the Nickelodeon orbit.

‘My honest opinion is I thought the whole atmosphere of the Dan Schneider set was very weird, very cultish,’ Sharon said.

Sharon said that ‘the parents were very secretive’ and that she ‘thought they all took themselves way too seriously’ and were obsessive about their children’s careers on the network.

Sharon said: ‘The whole conversation was: “Oh my God! What’s happening next? Did you hear they’re going to cancel this show? What’s coming next?”‘ 

Sharon said the atmosphere ‘was always so frantic about what was being canceled,’ whereas she saw ‘Nickelodeon as just a stopping station.

‘You didn’t get your start on Nickelodeon or Disney. You were blessed and fortunate enough to work in adult situations and kid situations.’

She continued, ‘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.’

Quiet on Set: The Dark Side of Kids TV featured a number of interviews with people who formerly worked on Schneider’s shows such as The Amanda Show, All That and Drake & Josh.

Keke and her mother Sharon Palmer previously called the atmosphere on the Nickelodeon sets ‘very weird’ and ‘very cultish’ amid a time Dan Schneider had multiple successful shows

Keke said she ‘definitely felt overly controlled and confined and almost like I was in a prison sometimes’ as a result of her mother being ‘protective of’ her 

Former child actor Drake Bell made headlines in the special by saying that he had been sexually abused when he was a minor by acting coach Brian Peck, who subsequently entered no contest pleas to two counts of sex acts with a minor.

Sharon said, ‘When I saw the Drake story, it just broke my heart because I could see how his parents got trapped, I could see the grooming that went on.’

Sharon noted that Peck has sought to distance Bell from his father, and that she was brought to tears watching the doc learning about the situation. 

Keke recalled her own past experiences with industry workers such as agents and managers trying to get between her and her mother.

‘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,’ The Bosses star said.

The Nope actress said her mother ‘never would allow that kind of thing to go down,’ which occasionally ‘created tension’ between them.

‘I definitely felt overly controlled and confined and almost like I was in a prison sometimes,’ Keke said. ‘But when I look back, I feel like you were really just being protective of me.’ 

Schneider, who parted ways with Nickelodeon in 2018, filed a lawsuit against Warner Bros. Discovery in May in Los Angeles, calling the docuseries a ‘hit job’ that painted him in a false light. 

Dan Schneider (pictured), who parted ways with Nickelodeon in 2018, filed a lawsuit against Warner Bros. Discovery in May in LA, calling the docuseries a ‘hit job’ that painted him in a false light 

‘While it is indisputable that two bona fide child sexual abusers worked on Nickelodeon shows,’ Schneider’s legal team said in legal docs, ‘it is likewise indisputable that Schneider had no knowledge of their abuse, was not complicit in the abuse, condemned the abuse once it was discovered and, critically, was not a child sexual abuser himself.’

Schneider’s lawyers continued, ‘But for the sake of clickbait, ratings, and views — or put differently, money — Defendants have destroyed Schneider’s reputation and legacy through the false statements and implications that Schneider is exactly that.’ 

DailyMail.com reached out to Warner Bros. for comment on the story.