Keke Palmer’s boyfriend calls couple's relationship ‘not perfect’ in new interview

Before Keke Palmer’s boyfriend, Darius Jackson, came under fire for remarks he made on social media about his girlfriend’s clothing choice, the couple opened up about their relationship, saying they’re “not perfect.”

On this week’s episode of the “Nope” star’s podcast, “Baby, It’s Keke Palmer,” the couple opened up about the trials and tribulations of having a relationship in the public eye.

Though Keke Palmer called their current partnership “extremely private,” they also agreed that taking it public was “overwhelming and intense at first.”

“And it’s like, you almost feel that pressure of needing to just be perfect,” Jackson said. “And so, it really confused me and infiltrated my mind because not only did I have to hold myself to that perfect standard, I was also holding you to a perfect standard as well.”

Jackson continued, saying that any exposed flaw for either of them could trigger “World War III.”

“Because it’s like, ‘Man, you know, we’re not perfect,” he added.

Keke Palmer’s mother, Sharon Palmer, who was also on the podcast episode, began clapping during Jackson’s comments and added that she was “glad he’s saying that.”

The “Bottoms Up” singer explained that there tends to be “a lot of pressure” surrounding their relationship “because we are very proud and there are things that we want to share … at the same time we do want to be able to maintain the privacy of our relationship, and I feel like we’ve done such a good job at being able to do that.”

Sharon Palmer, who said she's been married for 35 years, then piped in again to give some advice to young people.

"How you maintain relationships is you never lose respect," she said. "You gotta watch what you say. There's a line. Don't cross those lines."

The mother then gave some love to Jackson, adding that she thinks he’s “awesome” and a “great dad.”

After they recorded the interview, Jackson was met with the wrath of Keke Palmer's loyal fan base July 5 after he called her out for wearing a black bodysuit under a sheer black dress to Usher's Las Vegas residency show.

Jackson shared a video to Twitter of Palmer at the performance, writing, “It’s the outfit tho.. you a mom.”

Despite the online backlash to his critique, Jackson maintained his stance on his girlfriend's clothes, defending his choice to publicly make the remarks.

“We live in a generation where a man of the family doesn’t want the wife & mother to his kids to showcase booty cheeks to please others & he gets told how much of a hater he is,” he wrote. “This is my family & my representation. I have standards & morals to what I believe. I rest my case.”

Though Keke Palmer didn't directly address Jackson, she subsequently shared photos on Instagram dressed in the controversial outfit, writing in her caption, "I wish I had taken more pictures."

She then shared a video holding her baby boy, Leodis, captioning the video, "One thing is certain and one thing is true, IM A MOTHA, through and through!”

“To all my mom’s out there, how did your baby change you?? Mine empowered me! On such another level, my perspective changed because when my baby is good I’m GREAT! Look at that face! Gratitude galore,” she wrote.

This article was originally published on TODAY.com