Keke Palmer reflects on being the ‘Black girl' among Selena, Miley, Victoria

Keke Palmer says she was treated differently than her fellow Disney fames Selena Gomez, Miley Cyrus, and Victoria Justice

Palmer started in Nickelodeon‘s True Jackson, VP, and rose to fame alongside Miley, Selena and Victoria, but she feels she was always the “Black girl” on the network.

In a new interview, Palmer told The Cut: “I wasn’t necessarily in the same conversations as Victoria Justice or Selena Gomez or Miley Cyrus at that time,” adding that “people were putting limitations” on her. “It was very much ‘That’s the Black show’ or ‘That’s Keke Palmer, the Black girl on the network.’

While Palmer starred in the sitcom for three years from 2008 through 2011, Selena starred in Disney Channel’s Wizards of Waverly Place between 2007 and 2012, Miley Cyrus starred in Hannah Montana for four seasons between 2006 and 2011, and Victoria Justice starred in Victorious.

“There is a loss of innocence that comes with the awareness that you’re treated differently that I’d accepted a long time ago,” she said. “I don’t compare myself to anyone but I definitely don’t compare myself to any white person.”

Keke Palmer’s One of Them Days alongside SZA will be released on January 17.