American actress, Keke Palmer reportedly gave his ex-Darius Jackson several opportunities to make things right before she broke up with him and took legal action, including filing claims of domestic violence.
The 30-year-old actress, who was granted temporary sole custody of their baby son and a restraining order against Jackson, 29, ‘did what she had to do’ after attempting to have an ‘amicable split,’ a source told People on Saturday.
‘She gave him a lot of chances to do the right thing,’ the insider noted. ‘Keke tried so hard to have an amicable split and [custody] arrangement.’
Palmer’s court filings included shocking allegations of ongoing ‘physical and emotional abuse’ against her former partner, with whom she shares eight-month-old son Leodis.
‘She needed to prioritize her safety and the safety of her baby,’ the source added. ‘She wants the best for Leo. She did not want it to get to this point. But she did what she had to do.’
In the request filed in Los Angeles County Superior Court on Thursday, Palmer said she is seeking protection from Jackson after he allegedly ‘trespassed into my home without my knowledge or consent, threatened me, then physically attacked me’ on Sunday.
On Friday, shocking surveillance camera images of Palmer being beaten by Jackson surfaced online, with the images obtained from court documents.
Palmer accused Jackson of abusing her as recently as November 5, stating that she has security footage to back up claims that he ‘trespassed into my home without my knowledge or consent’ and ‘threatened’ her before ‘lunging for my neck, striking me, throwing me over the couch and stealing my phone.’
In response, Jackson posted a picture of him holding his child on X. The caption reads: ‘I love you, son. See you soon.’
In the restraining order request, which she filed in Los Angeles on Thursday, it was noted that the relationship, which began in 2021, ‘finally ended for good’ early last month ‘primarily due to the physical and emotional abuse inflicted.
Palmer alleges that Jackson would also ‘love bomb’ her during their relationship.
‘The abuse during our relationship was not just physical, but emotional and manipulative. Darius would ‘love bomb’ me and make me feel like I was the most important woman in the world, only to get extremely distant and cold over a perceived insult to him.’
If we were at a party or event, and I spoke with one person too long or looked at someone a “certain way,” he would storm off in a rage – telling me I was “slut” and a “whore,” accuse me of cheating on him, and that I did not love him.’
‘Darius had a way of gaslighting me to make me feel like I was doing something wrong even though I wasn’t,’ she wrote in documents.
Palmer alleged there have been ‘many instances of physical violence’ with Jackson, including him ‘hitting’ her in front of their son.
In April 2022, Palmer said that she was out for dinner with Jackson in Santa Barbara when he accused her of flirting with a woman, forcing them to come home early.
‘Darius grabbed my prescription eyeglasses away from me, threw them on the ground and stomped on them. He then opened my bag, threw all of my belongings onto the pavement in the rain, and threw my car keys across the parking lot before he got into his own car and drove off,’ she alleges.
Other incidents listed by Palmer reportedly involved him ‘destroying personal property, including diaries and prescription eyeglasses’ as well as throwing her ‘belongings into the street.’
She also accused him of ‘throwing my car keys to prevent me from driving away, spewing profanities about me to our son, threatening to kill himself with a gun if I left him, harassment, and other physical and emotional abuse.’
In her filing Palmer also expressed being ‘concerned for Leo’s safety’ due to prior incidents.
She claimed that on September 26, 2023, Darius became ‘very frustrated with him when Leo was crying while Darius changed his diaper.’
Palmer explained that her former partner ‘started getting rough with Leo physically and I stepped in to make sure Darius would not hurt him.’
She continued: ‘Darius was angry and it almost became a tug of war with Leo. Darius finally let go and Leo was not harmed, but as I was holding Leo trying to comfort him and finish changing his diaper, Darius hit me in the head before storming out of the room.’
Keke also shared incidents of emotional abuse, writing, ‘If we were at a party or event, and I spoke with one person too long or looked at someone a “certain way”, he would storm off in a rage – telling me I was ‘s**t’ and a ‘w***e,’ accuse me of cheating on him, and that I did not love him.’
Keke revealed it was the birth of their son that helped her make the decision to end their relationship.
‘It is because of our son, Leo, that I was finally able to end my relationship with Darius once and for all and escape the abuse. Leo is the most important thing in the entire world to me; he needs and deserves to be safe and grow up in an environment free from violence,’ she wrote.
