The Hit Film That Inspired Keke Palmer's First-Ever Solo Trip

Keke Palmer wearing a pink satin skirt and white bralette and black fur stole around one arm

(Image credit: Daphne Nguyen)

Keke Palmer always wanted to go on a solo trip worthy of the movie Eat Pray Love, starring Julia Roberts.

At last, she'll be doing it this year, Palmer tells Marie Claire in an interview for our January 2026 Mogul Issue.

The Scream Queens actress' solo trip makes sense at this point in her life, when she's learning how to take precious time for herself outside of work and parenting her son Leodis, 2.

Keke Palmer wearing a strapless white dress with one hand on her leg

"When I was 26 or so, I started really being conscious about trying to make more time for myself," Palmer tells Danielle Prescod.

"I always have a good five hours in the morning to myself where I'm waking up early and I'm doing whatever I want to do. I'm going for a walk, I'm going for a run. I'm going and doing a Pilates class. I'm having a little smoothie or a shake.

"Those rituals really help me to feel secure in myself because those are things that I'm doing with myself. That's been a huge shift for me. And then this year I'm excited because I'm going to be ending the year off going on a solo trip. That's something I've never done before in my life."

Keke Palmer wearing a blue dress for Marie Claire Mogul Issue

Palmer couldn't have chosen a more perfect destination for R&R travel. "I'm going to Bali!" she tells us. "As a teen, you know, I always remember seeing Julia Roberts in Eat Pray Love and so it's always been my dream to be Julia Roberts in Bali on my eat, pray, love."

Asked if she's scared to go alone, Palmer says, "No, I'm not scared, but I wonder if I'm going to get bored."

Still, she's excited to get to know herself better. "I just wonder what I'm going to learn about me," she explains. "I wonder what the time and experience is going to tell me about me. I think I've always felt that alone time was important, but it became glaringly important the older I have gotten, and not only that, but how much I truly enjoy it.

"I think I got to the point where I was like, Everybody likes spending time with me. I would like to spend time with me too. You know what I mean? I want to experience what y'all are experiencing with my own self."

Iris Goldsztajn is a London-based journalist, editor and author. She is the morning editor at Marie Claire, and her work has appeared in the likes of British Vogue, InStyle, Cosmopolitan, Refinery29 and SELF. Iris writes about everything from celebrity news and relationship advice to the pitfalls of diet culture and the joys of exercise. She has many opinions on Harry Styles, and can typically be found eating her body weight in cheap chocolate.