Keke Palmer brought the Internet into a frenzy this past weekend when she officially announced her pregnancy during her hosting debut on Saturday Night Live. The newly expectant father is Palmer’s current boyfriend, Darius Daulton Jackson—of whom even you may now find yourself saying, I hope I don’t sound ridiculous. I don’t know who this man is. … Sorry to this man.
Jackson and Palmer first started dating in the early summer of 2021 and went public with their romance that August, after Palmer shared a since-deleted photo of her with Jackson on Instagram. Now, with Palmer’s confirmed pregnancy, the two seem to be headed down a more serious path. "Honestly, this has been the biggest blessing and I am so excited guys—I’m gonna be a mom!" Palmer said during her opening monologue on SNL. "Even though some people feel a little weird about me having a baby ‘cause I was a child actor, I just wanna say, ‘Look, I’m 29, I’m grown, I have sex [and] I own a home. … You know, things adults do.’"
While Jackson keeps a fairly low profile online regarding his life and relationship with Palmer, glimpses of him show that he is a partner who keeps Palmer beaming. "This is the happiest I’ve ever felt with someone," Palmer told Bustle of her romance with Jackson in March.
Ahead, see everything else we know so far about the actress’s soon-to-be baby father.
He works in fitness and entertainment.
Jackson grew up playing multiple sports and received a football scholarship at Fresno State University. He is currently a fitness instructor at Inspire Fitness Studio, where his motivation is to "help others and himself to stay in shape as he enjoys being in a team oriented environment," per the studio’s website. "It is also where he feels comfortable to be himself."
According to his LinkedIn page, Jackson’s overall experience is a conglomerate of "acting, stand-in, background, sports reporting, sports marketing & writing." He has also dabbled in small television projects and even ran a since-removed YouTube fitness channel that garnered nearly 20 thousand followers, per Us Weekly.
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Palmer previously said that one thing that attracted her to Jackson was the way he’s acquainted with the celebrity-driven world while being neither drowned in it nor interested in being a celebrity himself. "I’ve always been somebody that hasn’t wanted too much industry stuff in my life," the actress said on The Tamron Hall Show in November 2021. "He’s very industry-adjacent, meaning he understands it, but that’s not what he’s about."
He’s related to Sarunas Jackson.
Jackson is the younger brother of actor Sarunas, who played Alejandro "Dro" Peña on the HBO comedy Insecure from 2017 to 2021.
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He met Palmer through Issa Rae.
Jackson and Palmer’s shared ties to Insecure are what led to their meeting. Palmer—who made a brief cameo in the series as Kira, the sister of Condola (Christina Elmore), for an episode of Season 5—first met Jackson during a Memorial Day party hosted by Insecure creator Rae and rapper Diddy. Soon after, the two embarked on a summer fling that quickly escalated.
"Never would have expected summer 2021 to turn out the way it did, but here we are," Jackson wrote in the since-deleted Instagram post. "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."
He and Palmer like to keep their relationship private.
While speaking on The Tamron Hall Show, Palmer explained why she ultimately decided to go more public with her and Jackson’s relationship after opting for a time to keep it on the down-low.
Palmer said the romance "became more difficult to hide," mostly because they were so happy. "We spend all this time together," she added, "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?" Palmer continued.
Prior to her romance with Jackson, in March 2020, Palmer opened up to Harper’s Bazaar about her preference for keeping her relationships offline. "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 said. "Yes, I’m 100% authentic, but there is stuff that I do save for family and friends."
