Bristol Palin shared more details about her family’s recent heartbreak after her 15-year-old son Tripp moved out of their Texas home.
The 33-year-old reality star revealed how her teenager informed her of his decision to relocate to Alaska full-time to live with his father and (Bristol’s ex-fiancé) Levi Johnston, 34, as well as his stepmother Sunny Johnston, 32, and half-sisters Breeze Beretta, 13, Indy Rae, eight, and Delta Jo, five.
‘He just texted me and was like, “Hey Mom. I’m not coming back,”‘ she recalled on Monday’s Sex, Lies and Spray Tans podcast. ‘Oh, I couldn’t even believe it. At first I’m like, “I’m coming up to Alaska, we’re not doing this.” I was so mad. So mad.’
The daughter of former Alaska governor Sarah Palin, who lives with her and ex-husband Dakota Meyer’s daughters Sailor Grace, eight, and Atlee Bay, seven, added, ‘It still is gut wrenching to me because it’s been just Tripp and I, and then I had my girls, but it’s always been Tripp and I.’
She then confessed: ‘It’s changed the dynamic of so much.’
Bristol Palin, 33, shared more details about her family’s recent heartbreak after her 15-year-old son Tripp moved out of their Texas home
The 33-year-old reality star revealed how her teenager informed her of his decision to relocate to Alaska full-time to live with his father, Levi Johnston, 34, her ex-fiancé; (Levi on left, Tripp on right)
The former Dancing with the Stars contestant expressed that, as her son approaches 16, he needs his father and believes moving to live with him is the best option.
‘All I can do is just hope and pray that it is what’s best,’ she explained.
Bristol also mentioned that she is contemplating a move back to Alaska, where much of her family still lives.
‘Selfishly, I’m just like, “I want him with me forever. He’s my best friend. My kids are my whole world,’ she explained. ‘But I can’t be selfish in that.’
Sunny on Tuesday shared a clip of Tripp playing in an organized football game on her Instagram Stories, as he was involved in a scoring play.
In an Instagram post from August 14, Bristol revealed how profoundly Tripp’s decision had affected her.
‘This has been the hardest “first day of school” yet with one of the biggest pieces of my heart missing,’ she wrote at the time. ‘Tripp has decided to finish out high school in Alaska to be closer to his dad and our entire family.’
Bristol said she was doing her best to cope with the change, added, ‘If you know Tripp, you know he lives for hunting/fishing and I honestly can’t blame him for wanting to be back home.’
Sunny on Tuesday shared a clip of Tripp playing in an organized football game on her Instagram Stories, as he was involved in a scoring play
‘He just texted me and was like, “Hey Mom. I’m not coming back,”‘ she recalled on Monday’s Sex, Lies and Spray Tans podcast . ‘Oh, I couldn’t even believe it. At first I’m like, “I’m coming up to Alaska, we’re not doing this.” I was so mad. So mad.’; Pictured in May of 2022 along with her son Tripp, 15, daughters Sailor Grace, eight, and Atlee Bay, seven, and ex-husband Dakota Meyer, 36
Levi and Sunny posed in 2020 with Tripp and their three daughters
Sunny, like Bristol, works in the real estate industry
‘As hard as it is has been to come to this decision – it’s truly not about what I want,’ Bristol said.
‘I can’t talk about it yet without crying,’ Bristol said, ‘but selfishly praying for a quick year and easy transition for us.’
Bristol was thrust into the national limelight in 2008 amid her mother’s vice presidential campaign alongside then Republican presidential candidate, late Arizona Sen. John McCain.
She appeared at the Republican National Convention in September 2008 alongside Johnston, as her pregnancy with Tripp when she was 17 made headlines, amid her mother’s swift rise to political prominence as McCain’s running mate.
Beyond the campaign, her relationship with Johnston remained in the public eye amid a pair of engagements before they eventually split for good.
Bristol made headlines in 2009 when she signed on for a $262,500 position to serve as an abstinence ambassador for a teen pregnancy prevention organization called The Candie’s Foundation.
‘Abstinence is the only way you can effectively 100 percent prevent pregnancy,’ Bristol said in a 2009 Good Morning America appearance. ‘It’s the safest choice and it will prevent teen pregnancy and a lot of heartache.’
Bristol in March of 2015 revealed she was engaged to Dakota Meyer, a Medal of Honor winner as a Marine. After calling off their engagement, they wed in 2016, prior to Meyer filing for divorce in 2018.
She posted an image of her two daughters on the doorstep of their home to commemorate their first day of school, while detailing the changing dynamic in her family
Bristol and her then high school sweetheart Levi were thrust into the public eye after her mother Sarah Palin announced the 17-year-old was pregnant at the 2008 Republican National Convention
Bristol and Levi called off their engagement in March 2009, just three months after their son, Tripp, was born on December 27, 2008
In her 2011 book Not Afraid of My Life, Bristol dubbed Levi a ‘gnat’ who had ‘stolen her virginity’ after she had been consuming alcohol.
Appearing on Good Morning America in June of 2011, Bristol clarified she was ‘not accusing Levi of date rape or rape at all.
Bristol documented her teen pregnancy in her book Not Afraid of My Life, in which she called Levi a ‘gnat’ who had ‘stolen her virginity’ while she was drunk. She later insisted on Good Morning America that she was ‘not accusing Levi of date rape or rape at all.’
‘I’m looking back with adult eyes and thinking, that was a foolish decision,’ she said. ‘I should never have been underage drinking, and I should never have gotten myself into a situation like that.’
The statements triggered legal activity in which Johnston requested for hearings to be publicized ‘as a check against anyone’s need to be overly vindictive, aggressive, or malicious.’
Johnston said, ‘Not that Bristol would be that way, nor would I. But her mother is powerful, politically ambitious, and has a reputation for being extremely vindictive…So, I think a public case might go a long way in reducing Sarah Palin’s instinct to attack.’
Johnston in November of 2013 filed court docs to have joint custody of Tripp, saying it had been in the child’s best interests, after Bristol previously had been awarded full custody.
Bristol said that the court filing had been a move to impact child support payments, as he had been $66,000 behind on his slate at the time.
Sunny, 32, posted an image of Tripp, who is headed into 10th grade, alongside his three sisters Breeze, 13, Indy Rae, eight, and Delta Jo Johnston, five, with their respective classes
Bristol posed with her daughters as they headed off for their first day of school
Bristol would again take Johnston to court saying that he had not demonstrated he was fit to be a parent. Bristol said Johnston hadn’t had visits with a young Tripp, and squandered his earnings on vacations, luxury vehicles and hunting trips as opposed to his child support obligations.
Bristol used her newfound wealth to buy her first five-bedroom home in Arizona. By 2014, she was claiming she had not earned a penny in 18 months and pushed a judge to increase Levi’s child support payments to $1,750 a month.
Within weeks of that filing, it was Levi’s turn to increase the heat, asking a judge to find Bristol in contempt of court for taking Tripp out of Alaska without his permission. The former couple finally settled their child custody dispute over Tripp in 2016, seven years after their son was born.
Levi also has three daughters — Breeze Beretta, Indy Rae, and Delta Jo — with his wife, Sunny Johnston, née Oglesby, whom he married in 2012.
Bristol and Levi have had an easier time co-parenting in recent years. Bristol is now pursing a career in real estate and has a clothing brand called Boyhart, which she promotes on Instagram.
Earlier this week, Bristol said that there was one dance professional on Dancing With the Stars who she didn’t get along with very well during her 2010 run on the show.
Bristol appeared Sunday on the Sex, Lies, and Spray Tans podcast with one-time DWTS professional Cheryl Burke, where she spoke about her experience on the ABC ballroom competition.
The Wasilla, Alaska-born reality star told Burke, 40, that during her time on the show’s 11th season in 2010, she felt ‘tension’ emanating from one of the show’s stalwart dance pros. (Bristol would go on to finish third in the competition as she was paired with pro dancer Mark Ballas, 38.)
Bristol Palin, 33, said that there was one dance professional on Dancing With the Stars who she didn’t get along with very well
Bristol – the daughter of former Alaska governor and 2008 vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin – would go on to finish third in the competition as she was paired with pro dancer Mark Ballas, 38
Bristol would go on to return to the ballroom floor two years later for the show’s lone Dancing with the Stars: All-Stars season that aired in 2012.
Bristol was pictured in September 2010 on the set of the ABC show in LA
Bristol said that she had tension with Maksim Chmerkovskiy, 44, who she said would roll his eyes during the segments in which she would get saved from being eliminated despite other pairs getting better scores from the judges.
‘Maks? He hated me so much,’ Bristol said of Chmerkovskiy, who had been paired up with singer Brandy that season. They finished fourth, while Dirty Dancing star Jennifer Grey and Derek Hough went on to win.
Asked by Burke what the issue was between her and Chmerkovskiy, Bristol said, ‘I don’t know, probably just because we kept going through.’
Bristol said Chmerkovskiy had been ‘real nice at the beginning,’ but things got progressively more pointed the further she advanced through the competition, and that she ‘definitely felt the tension from’ the Ukraine-born dance pro. She added, ‘I forgot about that.’
Chmerkovskiy’s rep told Entertainment Weekly in a statement: ‘Maks doesn’t hate anybody. For [Palin] to say that would be a mischaracterization of his feelings.
‘I think he and everyone else in America, 14 years ago, thought that he and Brandy were on their way to winning that year, if not coming into the finals.’
Chmerkovskiy’s rep said that ‘there was a bit of disappointment when she leapfrogged him into the finals … it’s a competition. He’s very competitive and took it seriously.’
Bristol would go on to return to the ballroom floor two years later for the show’s lone Dancing with the Stars: All-Stars season that aired in 2012.
Again paired with Ballas, the duo finished in ninth place, with The Bachelor alum Melissa Rycroft emerging victorious.
Bristol said Chmerkovskiy had been ‘real nice at the beginning,’ but things got progressively more pointed the further she advanced through the competition, and that she ‘definitely felt the tension from’ the Ukraine-born dance pro
Asked by Burke what the issue was between her and Chmerkovskiy, Bristol said, ‘I don’t know, probably just because we kept going through’
Bristol said that she felt ‘tension’ from Maksim Chmerkovskiy, 44, pictured in LA in 2022
Bristol said that appearing on the ABC competition buoyed her with confidence that she can ‘step out of my comfort zone’ and ‘put myself out there.’
On the podcast with Burke, Bristol said ‘it was really hard’ having her weight constantly speculated on during her run on the series.
‘I mean, my weight fluctuates,’ Bristol said. ‘It was like everyone was talking about my weight, and then I was stressed out about my weight.
‘I felt like I was just eating even more and gaining even more weight. It was just like a vicious cycle and it affected my confidence so much for years to come because it was such a topic.’
She cited an instance in which comic Kathy Griffin called her the ‘white version of Precious,’ referring to Oscar-nominated actress Gabourey Sidibe, 41.
Said Bristol: ‘It was all over the news for a while. It just bugs me so bad because I would be so upset if somebody was talking about my daughter like that. Obviously I knew I was gaining weight, and just for her to say something like that was, “Oh, OK.”‘
In a caption on Instagram, Burke said she wanted to express her ‘gratitude and admiration’ for the ‘candid conversation’ they engaged on on her podcast.
Dancing With the Stars 33rd season is set to debut on ABC and Disney+ September 17, landing on Hulu the next day.
