Keke Palmer, 30, Teases Retiring From Hollywood: ‘It’s Around The Corner’

Is Keke Palmer ready to step away from Hollywood? Not quite yet, but the 30-year-old Emmy-winning actress has said that “the timer has started” and retirement “is around the corner.”

Speaking to Teen Vogue in a recent interview, the host of NBC’s Password said of potential retirement, “I don’t know. I think the timer has started. I think it’s because I just haven’t felt it yet. But the timer, I know that it’s around the corner. I don’t know when exactly, but it’s around the corner.”

Palmer recently received a Primetime Emmy for Outstanding Host for a Game Show for her role on Password, becoming the first woman in 15 years to win in that category. She previously won an Emmy in 2022 for Outstanding Actress in a Short Form Comedy or Drama Series for her Facebook Watch series Turnt Up with the Taylors.

She also recently launched KeyTV to give a platform to fellow creators. According to the official KeyTV YouTube page, the channel sees Palmer “with a commitment to using her platform to educate and empower her audience” and “is home to original series developed, shot, and produced by a new generation of creators.”

Palmer told Teen Vogue that KeyTV is part of the legacy she wants to leave behind once she retires. “The main thing I want those legacies to be is to use your power for good, to use what you have to create spaces and systems for other people to thrive,” she explained.

“I just don’t believe in holding everything. I don’t believe in gatekeeping. I’m not a coward. What would that do? I think it’s based in fear. If I’m speaking on it from a compassionate place, I think people that gatekeep are afraid. So I’m not scared,” the Human Resources voice star continued.

PASSWORD — Episode 1: Jon Hamm — Pictured: Host Keke Palmer — (Photo by: Jordin Althaus/NBC)

Palmer had her breakthrough role in the 2006 film Akeelah and the Bee when she was 11 years old. From there, she went on to play the title character in the Nickelodeon sitcom True Jackson, VP. Her other credits include 90210, Masters of Sex, Scream Queens, Berlin Station, and Scream: Resurrection.

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“When I was younger, I used to have so much anxiety,” she recalled as she considered her future in show business. “I love to perform, but is that something that can last forever? I think I always would wonder, Is it something that times out? Obviously, you have people that have been acting their entire careers…. but I just never knew how I could scale myself.”

She added, “If you were a lawyer, you want to get to be a partner. I didn’t understand what the version of that was for me. Some people become directors or they become a producer or they become the head of Paramount.”

Palmer most recently appeared in an episode of the Apple TV+ comedy murder mystery series The Afterparty and will next be seen in Good Fortune, Aziz Ansari’s feature film directorial debut.