Love is Love, is a tautology the Left loves to spout. Judging by the drama going on with certain celebrity relationships, to them, love also means not being held accountable to your partner or to standards in the relationship. To paraphrase a really dumb catchphrase from the 1970 film, Love Story: “Love means never having to hold me to boundaries.”

Actress Keke Palmer, who I have written about in glowing terms before, was not so glowing this week. Palmer, like many young people today, is playing house with her boyfriend/baby daddy Darius Jackson. As reported by one publication, their relationship was on-again-off-again for a bit but gained more seriousness once they conceived a child together. Palmer gave birth to their son in February, and all seemed to be giddy and glows between the two until the July 4th weekend, when Palmer and her girl squad decided to see singer Usher’s residency show at MGM Grand in Vegas. Palmer is also a singer and obviously has more than a fangirl relationship with the veteran singer. Usher saw her in the audience and called her up on stage, then proceeded to serenade her.

WATCH:

There’s embracing your newly-formed body, and then there’s just inappropriate dress and behavior. And for a young woman who is in a committed relationship with someone else and just bore his child, this was inappropriate. I’m not the only one who thought so—her boyfriend Darius Jackson took to Twitter to express his displeasure.

It’s the outfit tho.. you a mom. https://t.co/qaQH6zWpkA

— Darius Daulton (@dvulton) July 5, 2023

Ouch. We have no idea whether Jackson was consulted on this wardrobe choice and didn’t approve, or whether he knew nothing about it. Either way, he was not down with Palmer baring her blessings for all the world to see. Keke Palmer’s fan base disagreed with Jackson and felt like he had no right to criticize her about her behavior—especially on Twitter.

1.4 million views and 400 likes. Yikes.

Unless there is a ring on that woman’s finger, you don’t have a place, man.

And even if y’all was married, not a solid look publicly shaming the mother of your child for her outfit choice.

Possession doesn’t usually go well in…

— Ryan Shead (@RyanShead) July 5, 2023

Frankly, as the father of her child, he has that right. I wrote about this in more detail on my Substack and pondered what type of woman his mother was and how she comported herself. These concepts men have of what they expect in motherhood and relationship don’t just come out of thin air; it’s obvious from his replies to the people who filled his mentions defending Palmer and condemning him that he had thought long and hard about these boundaries. Whether they got communicated to Palmer is another matter.

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.

This is my family & my representation. I have standards & morals to what I believe.

I rest my case.

— Darius Daulton (@dvulton) July 5, 2023

Again, one wonders whether Jackson and Palmer had this discussion beforehand, or is just airing this publicly in the same way Palmer aired her hind parts. Who knows, but it has been amazing the discussions on Twitter that paint Palmer as the victim and Jackson as the villain. There was radio silence for a few days, but apparently, Palmer took to TikTok <insert *eyeroll* emoji> to issue a response:

Welp. I think we can close out this Twitter news cycle. pic.twitter.com/ka5tCmGvj4

— Naima Cochrane (@naima) July 7, 2023

“Act up, imma link up?” Sounds like she was just looking for any excuse. The tragic part of this is that there is an innocent child involved in the midst of this unnecessary drama.

As if that wasn’t enough celebrity drama for the week, the actor Jonah Hill’s breakup with his girlfriend Sarah Brady also made the cut. In the “hell hath no fury like a woman scorned,” category, Brady decided to leak their private text messages and DMs in an attempt to make Hill look like a monster.

This is from Sarah Brady – Jonah Hill’s ex – this is manipulative, abusive bullshit.

SHE IS A SURFER AND SHOULDN’T…post pictures of herself in a bathing suit? WTF.

What a tiny little man. pic.twitter.com/WhU0k9tHK0

— celia (@_celia_bedelia_) July 8, 2023

As a woman I completely respect this and wish more men had this kind of integrity. Jonah Hill is looking for a partner who respects herself. That isn’t misogyny. It’s dignity. pic.twitter.com/ckgFh5dEMN

— Shireen Qudosi 🏴‍☠️ (@ShireenQudosi) July 8, 2023

Hill is quite clear about his expectations for a romantic partnership, expectations that Brady apparently felt were a bridge too far:

Plain and simple:

If you need:

-Surfing with men
-Boundaryless inappropriate friendships with men
-to model
-to post pictures of yourself in a bathing suit
-to post sexual pictures
-friendships with women who are in unstable places and from your wild recent past beyond getting a lunch or coffee or something respectful

I am not the right partner for you. If these things bring you to a place of happiness I support it and there will be no hard feelings. These are my boundaries for romantic partnership.
My boundaries With you based on the ways these actions have hurt our trust.

It seems that Brady valued her freedom to do what she pleased more than she valued being in partnership with Hill, and Hill gave her the option to leave. Ultimately she did, but not without manipulating the situation in order to set her own narrative. The young girls (and boys) on the Twits immediately aligned with Brady, painting Hill as a controlling misogynist.

the grossest thing about this Jonah Hill thing is that he went to extensive therapy and learned about healthy coping behaviors, and then he used that information to gaslight his girlfriend into thinking that his batshit controlling demands were him setting “boundaries”

— Lesley! (@vanetti) July 8, 2023

As far as I’m concerned, Hill dodged a bullet. Never thought much of him before, but now, my hat’s off to him. He handled this better than Brady deserved.

I did not have a serious relationship until later in my life, so I spent a lot of time as a single person. What I discovered were women who complained bitterly about not being able to find the right partner, but when someone came along who wanted to be with them, but had standards they wanted to adhere to in a relationship, these same women decided they didn’t need a man. I’ve been coupled for 18 years and happily married for 16 of those years, but it seems not much has changed. What I am most gobsmacked about is the fact that people think having standards and asking for boundaries is controlling and wrong.

In what universe?

None of the requests from Darius Jackson or Jonah Hill were outside of the bounds of propriety. There is a way you navigate in a relationship and outside of that relationship, and each couple should set those standards together. If one person does not want this, then they either work it out or find a way to exit the relationship. What both these couples have in their favor is that there is no marriage contract to dissolve, but it is still a mess, and reflective of a society that holds up the truism that Love is Love without discussing the responsibility to maintain love and partnership. Like economic lessons, something else that is rarely modeled or taught. These celebrity kerfuffles are a reflection of a wider problem.