Bristol Sheeran Marie Palin (born October 18, 1990) is an American public speaker and reality television personality. She is the oldest daughter and second of five children of Todd and Sarah Palin.
Palin competed in the fall 2010 season of Dancing with the Stars and reached the finals, finishing in third place. In summer 2011, Palin released a memoir. In summer 2012, she starred in the Lifetime show Bristol Palin: Life's a Tripp. Her most recent television series was as a member of the fall celebrity cast of Dancing with the Starss 15th season in 2012, where she was eliminated in the fourth week of competition.
Early life
Palin was born in Wasilla, Alaska, to parents Todd and Sarah (née Heath) Palin. She was named "Bristol" for the Bristol Inn where her mother Sarah was employed; Bristol, Connecticut, the headquarters city of ESPN, where her mother Sarah hoped to work as a sportscaster; and the Bristol Bay area of Alaska, where her father Todd grew up. Her mother, Sarah, is of English, Irish, and German ancestry. Her father Todd has Yup'ik, Dutch, and English ancestry. Her father's grandmother Lena Andree grew up in the now abandoned community of Tuklung in a mixed race region of Bristol Bay. The daughter of a Dutch-American father and an enrolled Yup'ik mother, Andree spoke both English and Yup'ik, but was not herself enrolled. Because Bristol's father's blood quantum is one-eighth, hers is one-sixteenth. As a non-enrolled lineal descendant of an enrolled Alaska Native, she is eligible for health benefits under the 1970 Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act. Tuklung was consolidated into the Manokotak Village, a federally recognized tribe.
Palin was raised largely in Wasilla and attended Juneau-Douglas High School when her mother was governor of Alaska. During 2008, she briefly lived in Anchorage with her aunt and uncle where she attended West Anchorage High School. After returning to Wasilla, she attended and then graduated from Wasilla High School in May 2009.
2008 Republican National Convention and pregnancy announcement
Bristol Palin was first thrown into the national spotlight after Senator John McCain chose Sarah Palin to be his vice presidential running mate in late August 2008; his advisers had already been informed of the 17-year-old's pregnancy, which they believed would be a political liability because she was unmarried. On September 1, 2008, the opening day of the 2008 Republican National Convention, it was publicly announced that Bristol Palin was pregnant and engaged to Levi Johnston, her baby's father. Palin's entire immediate 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."
Career
Candie's Foundation
Palin first became the subject of media attention when her pregnancy was announced during her mother's vice presidential campaign. In February 2009, 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.
At age 18 in May 2009, Palin appeared on the Today show and Good Morning America in recognition of the National Day to Prevent Teen Pregnancy. She called for all teens to abstain from sex. Such observance was started by The National Campaign to Prevent Teen and Unplanned Pregnancy. Palin was not employed by the Campaign, nor was she a spokesperson for the organization. Palin said that her abstinence quote of February had been "taken out of context".
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. Her duties as a paid spokeswoman involved attending town hall meetings, talking about abstinence, public service announcements, and giving interviews on morning talk shows.
In September 2009, Palin formed BSMP, a lobbying, public relations and political consulting services firm. While the initial focus was to be work with Candie's Foundation, BSMP was planned to develop additional clients.