In the “Runaway Love” scene, Keke Palmer’s tears next to Mary J. Blige weren’t acting – they were real feelings triggered by the Grammy Award-winning track. As shown below, Palmer joined Tierra Whack for a “Harriet’s Story Time” discussion in Philadelphia on Thursday (Jan. 23), sharing memories from the 2006 Ludacris and Mary J. Blige video she shot at age 12. In the video, Palmer portrayed “Erika,” an 11-year-old who escapes after getting pregnant by her boyfriend (played by Julito McCullum) and battling drug addiction. While filming alongside Blige, the crew played the song for Palmer, though they hadn’t mentioned they wanted her to get “emotional.”
“I’m a really dramatic person, as you guys know,” she told the crowd with a laugh. Palmer then quoted some lyrics from the song, mentioning she “had no idea what X was” at the time.
“[She took it] for the pain! And she’s having sex with a boy who’s 16!” Palmer exclaimed. “When I tell you I started sobbing and they were like, ‘Oh, shit, roll the cameras!'”
The One of Them Days star shared that Blige was “immediately ready” and called the music video “the most insane experience.” “Because why was I so deeply touched?” she wondered.
Palmer caught up with Luda for a “Runaway Love” reunion in December 2023, and around the 29-minute mark in the video below, she mentioned how her scene became meme material.
“They talk about some, ‘Why was that girl going through all that stuff and Mary was just screaming in her face?'” she laughed.
