Keke Palmer’s parents are Sharon Palmer and Larry Palmer. They are known for playing an important role in the life and rise to fame of their daughter, a renowned American actress, singer, and television personality.
Keke’s parents have been her strongest support system in her career and in helping her remain grounded in her community. The actress has often talked about them in a great light in interviews, sharing about the relationship they have.
Keke Palmer’s parents were amateur actors
Sharon and Larry Palmer were amateur actors when they were much younger. They attended drama school to hone their skills, and it was there that the couple met and fell in love. Soon, they started having kids and had to step away from acting to find jobs and provide for their family.
Larry now works as a deacon, raising his kids in the church and Christian faith. According to Keke, due to her upbringing, she has always enjoyed spending time in the church. Nonetheless, she was allowed, as she grew up, to find and follow her spiritual path.
On her part, Sharon is a high school teacher who also doubles as Keke’s manager. She has managed her daughter since Keke started her career as an actress. According to Sharon, she wanted to help her daughter be more financially secure, having grown up in a low-income home.
Keke Palmer’s parents got married early
After they first met at drama school, Sharon and Larry dated for barely a year before they got married. At the time they got married, her mom was only 20 years old while her father was 24.
In 1989, they had their first child, Loreal Chanel Palmer, who is a producer, writer, and set decorator. She is known for producing the TV series, Dread Manor, and being the set decorator of Resident Evil: Ressurection. Also a reality TV star, Loreal won the first season of the ABC reality show, Claim to Fame.
On 26 August 1993, the couple welcomed their second child, Lauren Keyana Palmer, who would come to be better known as Keke Palmer.
They had their youngest children, Lawrence and Laurencia Palmer, in 2000. The twins are not as popular as their older siblings, as they maintain a life away from the entertainment business. Nonetheless, Lawrence has been involved in a few stage productions in the past, including Evita in 2025.
See Also: Keke Wyatt Kids: Meet The 11 Children And Their Fathers
Sharon Palmer and Larry Palmer have always supported Keke
Keke Palmer has always enjoyed the support of her parents in both her career as an actress and in her personal life. In her professional life, they were her motivation to become an actress.
When she began, the couple had no problem leaving their home in the suburbs of Chicago and moving to Hollywood when Keke was 9 to support their daughter, who gained fame as a child actress for her role in Akeelah and the Bee (2006).
Beyond the support they lent to her to get her footing in Hollywood, they also kept her grounded, always reminding her of where she was coming from and the need to always use her fame and fortune for good.
In the personal life of the actress, her parents have always looked out for her. This is most especially her mother, who went public in November 2023 to blast Keke’s ex-boyfriend, Darius Jackson, for allegedly abusing her daughter. Sharon dared Jackson to mess with her family member. She accused him of being phony and treating her family in such a manner, even after treating him with kindness.
In the Instagram post, which has since been deleted, Keke Palmer’s mother defended her daughter while telling off Jackson.
Sharon and Larry enjoy a great relationship with their daughter
Keke enjoys a great relationship with her parents, although she once revealed in an interview that she hated them for a long time.
She revealed that the hatred came because of the so much pressure she felt while growing up after breaking out as a child star to “rise to the occasion” for her community, parents, and siblings for all their sacrifices.
Things have since improved for her, and she has come around to love and appreciate her parents and siblings. In a birthday post to her mom in 2021, she stated that if she wrote words in the language of her love for her mom, she would continue to write until the day she died.
About her dad, she once described him as the best dad in the world, while appreciating him for his sacrifice and responsibility.