After Palin became a single mother at age 18, she began to publicly advocate sexual abstinence for unmarried teens, and is now a paid speaker on the subject of teen pregnancy.
She competed in the fall 2010 season of Dancing with the Stars, where she received lower scores from the judges than some other contestants but was voted through week after week by fans. She reached the finals, finishing in third place.
Early life and education
Palin was born and raised in Wasilla, Alaska. She was named "Bristol" after the Bristol Inn where her mother had been employed; Bristol, Connecticut, the headquarters city of ESPN, where her mother had hoped to work as a sportscaster; and the Bristol Bay region of Alaska, where her father grew up.
Beginning in 2005, Bristol attended Juneau-Douglas High School and began dating Levi Johnston. In 2008, she briefly lived in Anchorage with her aunt and uncle and attended West Anchorage High School. She returned to Wasilla and graduated from Wasilla High School in May 2009.
Career
Teen Pregnancy Prevention spokesperson
In May 2009, at age 18, Palin started working with the National Campaign to Prevent Teen and Unplanned Pregnancy to inform young people about the negative consequences of teenage pregnancy. The campaign's spokesman, said that working with Palin made sense, because "she's had the highest-profile teen pregnancy of the year." Several interviews and pictorials for similar organizations followed. Also in May 2009 Palin was named a Teen Pregnancy Prevention Ambassador for the Candie’s Foundation, a teen pregnancy prevention organization that is a division of the Candie's clothing brand. In April 2011 it was reported that Palin was paid more than $262,000 by the foundation for her work in 2009. Her duties as a paid spokeswoman involved attending town hall meetings, public service announcements, and giving interviews on morning talk shows. On Good Morning America, she stated, "Regardless of what I did personally, abstinence is the only 100% foolproof way you can prevent pregnancy." In another interview on Good Morning America with Robin Roberts she stated that 'Pause Before You Play hits a wider range of message, it can mean pause and go get a condom, it can be pause and think about your life, or it could be pause and wait until marriage.' Before Palin became a spokeswoman, she told Fox News that abstinence is "not realistic at all", but that she would like it to become more accepted among people her age. Several weeks later, she stated that that quote had been "taken out of context."
Her role as a spokesperson has been controversial. Bonnie Fuller, former editor-in-chief of YM, has questioned whether the net effect of Palin's presentations has glamorized rather than discouraged teen pregnancy, noting that the "picture perfect" imagery of a People magazine spread seemed to make her "the poster girl for teen momhood." Meghan McCain stated her support for sex education and criticized Palin's sexual abstinence campaign, saying it was "not realistic for this generation." Former MSNBC commentator Keith Olbermann declared Palin his "Worst Person in the World" for her advocacy, to which Palin replied "Accusing me of hypocrisy is by now, an old canard... Parents warn their children about the mistakes they made so they are not repeated. Former gang members travel to schools to educate teenagers about the risks of gang life. Recovered addicts lecture to others about the risks of alcohol and drug abuse. And yes, a teen mother talks about the benefits of preventing teen pregnancy."
Palin works on the speakers' circuit asking between $15,000 and $30,000 for each appearance. She has signed with Single Source Speakers and is listed on their website as available for conferences, fundraisers, special events and holidays, as well as women's, youth, abstinence and pro-life programs.
In January 2011 she was invited to speak at Sexual Responsibility Week at Washington University in St. Louis, but students protested the high fee she was to be paid out of student-generated funds and her appearance was cancelled.
Business venture
In September 2009, Palin formed BSMP, a lobbying, public relations and political consulting services firm. While the initial focus will be working with Candie's Foundation, BSMP plans to work with additional clients.
Television
The Secret Life of the American Teenager
Palin appeared in an episode of the ABC Family network series, The Secret Life of the American Teenager, playing a friend of the fictional character Amy, a 15 year old who is dealing with an unexpected pregnancy. She filmed the scenes in Los Angeles in March 2010; the episode aired on July 5, 2010. "I like doing speaking engagements and stuff like that," she told E!. "I don't think I'll be doing any more acting in the future."
Dancing with the Stars
All about: Dancing with the Stars (U.S. season 11)
Palin joined the Fall 2010 season of Dancing with the Stars (DWTS), partnered with professional Mark Ballas, who is a two time champion on the show, having won with Olympic figure skater Kristi Yamaguchi in season 6, and with Olympic gymnast Shawn Johnson in season 8.
Her long run on the show despite her frequently lower scores from the judges, attracted media attention and speculation. Questions were raised about the integrity of the public voting process including allegations of fraudulent online voting using multiple e-mail addresses. Executives at ABC and the show's executive producer, Conrad Green, stated that "checks and balances" in the system, including IP address verification, prevent such voting practices, and that "there's nothing in the voting that looks dissimilar to previous seasons." Nonetheless, Green speculated that Palin may have received votes for political reasons by backers of her mother in the Tea Party movement,[40] and support from older viewers who had maternal feelings toward her due to her youth and lack of prior experience. Palin herself credited her success to the support of her fans who were tuning in each week to see her improvement.
Palin's success on the show attracted other negative attention, including death threats against her. In one instance, suspicious white powder was received by the show. The powder turned out to be harmless, but as a result, security on the show was tightened.
Palin and her partner finished in third place. Prior to the final show, Palin stated that winning "would be like a big middle finger out there to all the people out there who hate my mom and hate me." Following the competition, she remarked that she was happy with her third place finish, that prayer and faith had helped her, and that she had grown as a person.
Due to her dancing rehearsal schedule, she said she forgot to mail in her absentee ballot for the November 2010 general election.
Sarah Palin's Alaska
Bristol made an appearance on the TLC travelogue/documentary Sarah Palin's Alaska, helping on a commercial halibut fishing boat. During the airing of the first episode, Bristol posted defensive comments on Facebook against posters who criticized the Palin family. Some of Bristol's comments included profanity, for which she later issued an apology.
Music video
While still competing on DWTS, Palin appeared in a music video for an Alaskan symphony rock band, Static Cycle. The video was shot at the Ice Museum in Chena Hot Springs, Alaska, with Palin dressed in a fur hat and coat and played a mother-nature-type role of melting the ice.
Memoir
In June 2011, Palin released a memoir, co-written with Nancy French, entitled Not Afraid of Life: My Journey So Far, in which she candidly discusses aspects of her personal life, including tensions with the McCain family and losing her virginity. The book has received mixed reviews from critics and readers alike, many of them criticizing her for releasing a memoir at only 20 years old.
Personal life
2008 Republican National Convention and pregnancy announcement
When Sarah Palin was chosen as John McCain's vice presidential running mate in late August 2008, his advisers already knew of Bristol's pregnancy, which they believed would be a political liability. On September 1, the opening day of the 2008 Republican National Convention, it was publicly announced that Palin was pregnant and engaged to Johnston, the father of her unborn child. Palin's entire family, along with Johnston, appeared at the convention. McCain's advisers reportedly thought a wedding between Johnston and Palin would boost the waning popularity of the McCain-Palin ticket. Johnston denied claims that he was being pressured into a shotgun wedding, stating, "We were planning on getting married a long time ago with or without the kid. That was the plan from the start."
Motherhood
Palin and Johnston's son, Tripp Easton Mitchell Johnston, was born in 2008. She denied claims that her mother's pro life views influenced her decision to give birth to and raise her child, stating, "It doesn't matter what my mom's views are on it. It was my decision."
Palin and Johnston broke off their engagement in March 2009. In November 2009, a custody and child support case was filed in a local Alaska court. Palin asked the court to use pseudonyms for herself and Johnston to keep the normally public proceedings private, arguing that the media attention would not be good for the child. Johnston argued for open proceedings, saying he wanted the case to be decided on the merits, and that he did "not feel protected against Sarah Palin in a closed proceeding." In December 2009, on Tripp's first birthday, the judge ruled in favor of Johnston, and it was publicly announced that the pair had been battling for legal custody. Palin, who wished to win full custody rights and child support consistent with Johnston's income, stated that Johnston had "exercised sporadic visitation rights" and "wants the rights for his own self-promotion". Johnston sought shared custody and lower child support payments. In February 2010 a judge ruled that Johnston had to pay back child support, with a hearing set to determine the amount of ongoing support payments.
That month, Palin and her son began living in a condo she had purchased in Anchorage, where she was working at a dermatologist's office and taking business courses at a community college. In July 2010, Palin and Johnston announced that they had reunited and were again engaged, but less than three weeks later, they ended their second engagement. In August 2010 she moved out of the condo and returned to her parents' home, and the couple reached an agreement giving primary custody to Palin and visitation rights and child support responsibility to Johnston. In December 2010, Palin purchased a five-bedroom house in Maricopa, Arizona, a suburb of Phoenix, for $172,000 in cash, according to Pinal County property records.
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