Singers Keke Palmer and Demi Lovato found common ground on the subject of dating adult men at age 15 on Tuesday's episode of Palmer's podcast. Both spoke on the moment they reached the age of former boyfriends and realized how messed up that gap was—and how they excused it when they were young.
This moment once again brings to light how common it is for adult men to target underage girls.
Keke Palmer, Demi Lovato, and Hilary Duff
On Tuesday's episode of "Baby, This is Keke Palmer," the conversation with Demi Lovato turned to dating. In a clip going viral on X, they both revealed that adult men had dated them when they were only 15.
"I'm 15, why is my boyfriend 20?" asked Palmer.
"Why was my boyfriend 30?" Lovato countered.
Palmer reacted with shock, but also understanding. The singers went on to talk about why they used to think these situations were okay.
"We was trying to find outlets," said Palmer. "And just a way to process this, and nobody our age..."
"Could understand!" Lovato finished. "But then you look back in hindsight. When I turned 30, I was like, 'That's not okay.'"
The women then discussed the moment they turned 20 or 30 and realized that men had been preying on them. Unfortunately, at age 15, you tell yourself a lot of stories about why the thing you want to do is fine, especially when people around you keep telling you how mature you are.
That led to the pair bonding over a shared love of Hilary Duff's 2025 single "Mature."
"She looks like shе could be your daughter / Like me before I got smarter," the lyrics go. "When I was flattered to hear you say / 'You're so mature for your age, babe.'"
"This conversation is so real"
This interview put another spotlight on how often grown men prey on underage girls—one amid the glaring floodlight that is the Epstein files. A 2014 study found that 26.6 percent of girls have experienced sexual abuse or assault by age 17. For 11.2 percent, perpetrators were exclusively adults.
During the interview. Lovato brought up her song "29" during the podcast episode, which fans largely interpreted to be about actor Wilmer Valderrama. He met Lovato when she was 17, and he was 29, and began dating after she turned 18. He dated an underage Mandy Moore after meeting her when she was just 15.
He also dated Lindsay Lohan when she was 18, and he was 24.
"Wilmer Valderrama still needs to be publicly whipped," said @Brieyonce in a quote tweet of the interview clip.
Others had things to say about the overall pattern of adult men dating girls.
"When you’re an adult over 21, and you realize the boyfriend that you had in high school was a pedo, it’s very triggering, but this conversation is so real," wrote @rosesfortywild.
"Both of them laughing about it when you realize the industry literally normalized grooming as young love. The real question isn't why did the teens date older guys, it's why so many adults around them thought a 15, 20, or 17, 30 gap was cute instead of criminal," said @HighbeeNation1.
"The fact they can laugh about it now doesn’t make what happened to them any less disgusting," @koliesque noted. "Grown men preying on teenage girls in Hollywood needs to stop being normalized PERIOD."
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