In case you happened to miss the truly wild cultural reset that was Keke Palmer announcing her pregnancy on Saturday Night Live, let us remind you: It. Was. Iconic. And not only did it shine a light on the actor’s new bundle of joy, but it also made people (me) curious to know more about Keke’s longtime boyfriend, Darius Jackson.
Though the two have kept their relationship relatively low-key since they first began dating in 2021, true fans can tell that these two are super in love. In fact, during a March 2022 interview with Bustle, Keke gushed, “this is the happiest I’ve ever felt with someone. So why would I go out of my way to hide this person? That’s a lot more work than just living in my life and being in my life. You know what I’m saying?”
Love this for her! For the nosy among us, let’s get into everything there is to know about Darius, shall we?
Keke’s boyfriend is really ~sporty~
As in, while I was trying to do field research to test whether french toast tasted better in different dorms, Jackson was out here playing football at Fresno State University.
And his interest in sports never went away. In fact, it drove him to pursue a career in sports media, and he wound up going to school for a certificate in broadcasting, per People. Now, Darius is a fitness instructor at Inspire Fitness Studio where he aims to “help others and himself to stay in shape as he enjoys being in a team oriented environment,” according to the studio’s website.
His brother is an actor
Yep, talk about an iconic fun fact! Darius’s brother is actor Sarunas Jackson, and you might recognize him since he played Alejandro “Dro” Peña on the HBO’s hit show Insecure from 2017 to 2021. Cute lil family pic, incoming:
And here’s a pic of the two of them, just because:
…which is how he met Keke
Turns out, both Darius and Keke’s connection to Insecure ultimately led to their meet-cute. Keke—who made a brief cameo on the series during an episode of season 5—and Darius first became acquainted during a Memorial Day party in 2021 hosted by Insecure creator and star Issa Rae and rapper Diddy. And the rest is truly history!
Darius and Keke started dating in 2021
And by that August, the two went Instagram official (eep!) and the fitness instructor even dedicated a sweet tribute to his girlfriend on her birthday that year in a since-deleted post, per People.
“Never would have expected summer 2021 to turn out the way it did, but here we are,” Darius began. “I’m glad we were able to help each other throughout our lowest of times & show one another that what we are bringing to the table is everything that we got.”
In the years since, Kiki has certainly repaid the favor, penning this emotional caption for Darius’s birthday this year:
“I can easily write long emotional posts for all my girls birthdays, but it’s so cringy writing a birthday post for you 🥴 because the love is so sacred. It almost feels asinine to try to share or give a glimpse into something that only we could understand. I can share most things so easily, but not you. Happiest Birthday to the best Aquarius, Darius, my guy! Let’s go Birds! 🦅”
They’re v private
But that’s an important facet of any relationship Keke is in! Back in March 2020—way before she started dating Darius—the actor spoke with Harper’s Bazaar about why she likes to keep her dating life low-key: “I don’t really do relationship stuff online, mainly because I don’t know how I would do it without looking, like, cheesy or something, you know?” she confessed to the publication. “Yes, I’m a hundred percent authentic, but there is stuff that I do save for family and friends.”
Fast-forward to November 2021, and Keke opened up on The Tamron Hall Show about how she’s slowly become more okay with being public about her romance with Darius. “It became more difficult to hide,” she said of choosing to post pics of her boyfriend at the time. “We spend all this time together, and he really is my closest friend, so it just becomes a thing where I’m not gonna hide something that makes me happy. It’s not gonna be everything you see, my job is my job, but at the end of the day this is somebody that is important to me so why not.”
This content is imported from youTube. You may be able to find the same content in another format, or you may be able to find more information, at their web site.
Proof that love really does change everything, people! 😭❤️
He and Keke welcomed a baby boy in February 2023
I mean, how could you forget the iconic Saturday Night Live moment that was Keke announcing her pregnancy during her opening monologue in December 2022?!
“There’s some rumors going around, people have been in my comments saying, ‘Keke’s having a baby, Keke’s pregnant,’ and I wanna set the record straight—I am!” the actor exclaimed as she unbuttoned her jacket to reveal her growing baby bump in front of the live audience—and the world, for that matter. Let’s re-watch for the ~mems~, shall we?
This content is imported from youTube. You may be able to find the same content in another format, or you may be able to find more information, at their web site.
Fast-forward a few months later, and Keke and Darius’s bb, Leodis Andrellton Jackson, was born on February 25, 2023. And because she knows how to give the people what they want, Keke allowed fans to see the pics of “baby Leo” on her Instagram a couple days later:
In the time since, Darius has also posted tons of content not only of himself and Keke (aka “mom n dad”—iconic), but of their son, too:
TL;DR: Get Issa Rae’s number ASAP so she can work her magic yet again!
Assistant news editor
Gretty Garcia is the assistant news editor at Cosmopolitan, where she covers all things news, entertainment, and pop culture. Before joining Cosmo, Gretty was a social strategist for Mrs. Dow Jones and a features and special projects editor at Editorialist. She holds an MS from the Columbia Journalism School and studied art history at Harvard College.