Keke Palmer speaks out hidden reality of child-on-child abuse

Keke Palmer has opened up about her traumatic experience of being molested by a peer at the age of five. 

Ahead of her book release, Master of Me: The Secret to Controlling Your Narrative, on November 19, Palmer had an intimate conversation with People magazine to shed light on the often-overlooked issue of child-on-child sexual abuse.

"People don't really think about child-on-child molestation, but it's something that exists," Palmer emphasised. 

"I felt weird and violated, but I didn't really know how to place it. I just knew I had all these weird feelings and thoughts, and I felt a little bit out of control and overwhelmed."

Palmer's journey to stardom began at a young age, with her first role in Barbershop 2 at 10 years old. However, it wasn't until two years later that she grasped the personal impact of the trauma she endured.

"I was reading a book about sexual abuse, and it said all these things about anxiety and hyper-sexualization," the Scream alum recalled. "All of this stuff that I attributed to me but really it was because of what I had experienced."

Upon processing the incident, Palmer clarified, "It wasn't about blaming that other child... We don't know sometimes what has happened to us, especially if it doesn't look the way that the world has told you it looks like."

As the Hustlers star navigated her rise to fame, she faced unique challenges. Her family struggled to cope with the sudden success, particularly the financial and emotional pressures.

"Fame shocked us," Palmer admitted. 

"It was a shock that I could make that much money, that I could go to Universal Studios and have a hundred people surrounding me at once... The weight of that was real bad, and we all felt it in so many different ways."