Keke Palmer‘s boyfriend Darius Jackson admitted he has felt the “pressure” of holding her to a “perfect standard,” when discussing the strains of their relationship on a new episode of her podcast, Baby, This is Keke Palmer. The episode was recorded before he made headlines for criticizing an outfit the 29-year-old actress wore last week, but was just published on Tuesday. It also comes after they welcomed their first child, Leo, together in Feb.
“At first, it definitely was hard because it could all be very overwhelming. It was definitely overwhelming and intense at first,” Darius said about making their relationship public. “It was,” she agreed.
“And it’s like, you almost feel that pressure of needing to be perfect,” he continued. “And so, it really confused me and infiltrated my mind because not only did I have to hold myself to that perfect standard, I was also holding you to a perfect standard as well. So, any moment of flaw on my side or on your side it was World War III because it’s like…”
“— And now the world sees us,” Keke responded before he agreed by saying, “Exactly.” Keke also talked about the pressure from her perspective. “Its a lot of pressure, because we are very proud and there are things that we want to share…at the same time we do want to be able to maintain the privacy of our relationship, and I feel like we’ve done such a good job at being able to do that,” she explained.
That pressure may have been one of the reasons for Darius’ comments about the sheer black dress Keke wore when she attended the Usher concert in Las Vegas, NV last week. “It’s the outfit tho.. you a mom,” he wrote while reposting a video of the new mother at the event. After receiving a lot of backlash for his comment, he defended himself in a follow up tweet.
“We live in a generation where a man of the family doesn’t want the wife & mother to his kids to showcase booty cheeks to please others & he gets told how much of a hater he is. This is my family & my representation. I have standards & morals to what I believe. I rest my case,” it read.
Keke also seemed to respond to the backlash by posting a video with her son that was captioned, “One thing is certain and one thing is true, IM A MOTHA, through and through! 😍.” She also launched some “I’m a Motha” merchandise.