The Tragedy Of Bristol Palin Gets Sadder And Sadder

Bristol Palin was thrust into the spotlight when her mother, Sarah Palin, ran for vice president in 2008, and her life has been anything but easy ever since. At the time, she was only 17 years old and pregnant with her first child, which became public during John McCain's presidential campaign. "Our beautiful daughter Bristol came to us with news that as parents we knew would make her grow up faster than we had ever planned. We're proud of Bristol's decision to have her baby and even prouder to become grandparents," Sarah and her then-husband Todd Palin announced in a statement. They added that Bristol and the father of her baby, who was later revealed as Levi Johnston, had plans to marry and raise their child together.

Unfortunately, Bristol and Johnston never made it to the altar, and after an on-again, off-again relationship, the two split for good in 2010. According to the teen mom, her then-boyfriend confessed that he may have impregnated another woman, and she told People, "There's been no remorse." She eventually moved on and married Dakota Meyer, but that didn't work out either, leaving her a single mom with three kids. From a failed marriage to dealing with health issues, the life of Bristol has been rife with many tragedies.

In January 2025, Bristol Palin revealed in a series of Instagram Stories that she was suffering from facial paralysis. "I woke up nine days ago with a little weird sensation in my face. My mouth was pulling this way, and it just felt a little off. So I went — looked in the mirror. I'm like, 'Wow, This is looking a little weird,'" she said in the videos reposted by Access Hollywood. In a later video, she told her fans, "Within a couple of hours, the entire left side of my face was numb and just paralyzed. Couldn't really blink my eye. Definitely had no movement on [the left side] of my face. So crazy." Palin revealed that she had gone to the doctor, who ran tests and told her she might have Bell's palsy, which can be brought on by fatigue or stress.

Amid speculation on what caused Palin's facial paralysis, she took to Instagram to state (via Newsweek), "So many people are trying to blame the COVID vaccine. I never had the COVID vaccine. So many people are also saying, 'Oh it's caused by Botox or filler.' I haven't had filler in years. I have lip filler from years ago, but nothing new. And in terms of Botox, I haven't done that in a long time, too." She added that her condition was likely caused by stress and lack of sleep and that she was receiving acupuncture treatments. "I'm going to try a lymphatic massage, doing all the things," she shared.

Bristol Palin has always gushed about being a mom since giving birth to her first son, Tripp Johnston, in 2008, which is why her announcement that he had left her was tragic. As noted by Today, Palin shared in her Instagram Story, "This has been the hardest 'first day of school' yet with one of the biggest pieces of my heart missing. Tripp has decided to finish out high school in Alaska to be closer to his dad and our entire family." She added that she understands why her son wants to live with his father and that, at 15 years old, he can make the decision for himself, but that didn't make losing him any less heartbreaking.

Palin opened up about Tripp's move in an episode of "Sex, Lies, and Spray Tans," stating, "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." The mom of three admitted that she was furious when he told her that he wasn't coming back from Alaska, but ultimately, she came to respect his decision to stay. She confessed, "He's just, my kids are my whole world. But I can't be selfish in that. It's like he needs to strengthen that relationship [with his dad], and I just need to support it."

Six years after her breakup with Levi Johnston, Bristol Palin married former Marine Dakota Meyer in 2016, but their relationship had its fair share of ups and downs. The two welcomed their daughter, Sailor Grace, in 2015 and went on to have their second daughter, Atlee Bay, two years later. Sadly, Palin and Meyer called it quits in 2018, and according to the "Teen Mom OG" star, he's way better off. "When you get rid of the cancer in your life, you can go live," he stated in an Instagram Live, noted The Ashley's Reality Roundup. He also stated that his mental health had improved post-split and told fans, "Since Bristol moved out of my house I haven't had to get any shots in my neck. I haven't had to take any Ketamine. I haven't had to take any medication."

Before the divorce, the drama played out in Season 7 of "Teen Mom OG," with Palin telling the cameras the real reason she was getting divorced. "My husband, Dakota, has been struggling with PTSD, and it's been hard on our marriage. We don't know how to co-exist together. I don't want to raise our kids to think this is what a marriage looks like," she shared. As the season aired, things got more messy between the exes, and Meyer took to Instagram to accuse Palin of not allowing him to be present for the birth of Sailor. "She denied my paternity until it could be proven, at which point Sailor was born. For Bristol to state that Sailor didn't have a dad is laughable," he wrote.

Bristol Palin's breakup with her high school boyfriend, Levi Johnston, was fraught with a legal battle over their son Tripp Johnston, who was just a year old when she filed for sole custody in 2009. "Bristol's petition for custody only asks for the status quo: primary custody with Bristol while allowing Levi visitation with Tripp," her lawyer said in a statement obtained by ABC News. The matter was set to go to court, with Palin requesting $1,688 in child support and over $19,000 in back payments.

The battle waged on for years, and in February 2016, Palin accused Johnston of owing her $80,000 in child support, the Daily Mail reported. Her ex, who remarried and had two more kids, claimed he was unable to sustain the child support payments and asked the court to lower the amount. Seven years after their custody battle began, Johnston was finally awarded joint custody of Tripp, and Palin shared on Instagram (via People), "Every child deserves two loving parents, so I will continue to encourage that no matter what. I have never, and will never, keep them from having a positive relationship with their fathers."