Keke Palmer felt "trapped" at Nick

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https://www.eonline.com/news/1354893...ckelodeon-fame

Keke Palmer explained why a moment during her Nickelodeon fame made her feel like just a "character" for others.

By ANGIE ORELLANA HERNANDEZ NOV 16, 2022 1:57 PM

There was one moment during Keke Palmer's time at Nickelodeon that had her saying Nope.

The actress recently recalled the overwhelming experience she had on a week-long cruise in 2009, just a year after rising to fame on the show True Jackson, VP. As she explained, Nickelodeon paid for the vacation for Keke and her family under the condition that the then-child star spend a few hours signing autographs.

"I felt like I was walking around in a SpongeBob suit that I couldn't take off. I was trapped," Keke told The Hollywood Reporter in an interview published Nov. 16. "I couldn't leave my room without someone coming up to me calling me 'True Jackson.'"

She added, "What you are, to everyone, is just a character…just part of their experience."

Keke shared that she eventually fainted from anxiety during the trip.

Following her time on True Jackson, VP—which ended in 2011 when Keke turned 18 years old—the Nope star actress revealed she took efforts to build a public persona to withstand the effects of fame.

"I'm just saying that I'm not like that all the time," she explained. "I've taken those flamboyant and interesting aspects of myself and learned how to use them in a space that has become a career for me. I'm Walt Disney. That's Mickey Mouse."

Moreover, she issued a reminder that there's more to her than just her public personality.

"I'm a quirky artist, but I'm an artist, and it's important for people to understand that Keke is just a part of who I am," she said. "It's been a winding road of trying to figure out how to do what I love but also exist outside of this caricature."