Bristol Palin biography

Synopsis

Early Life

Bristol Palin was born Bristol Sheeran Marie Palin on October 18, 1990, in Wasilla, Alaska. Bristol is the eldest daughter, and second of four children, of Todd Palin and Sarah Palin, the former governor of Alaska and 2008 Republican vice presidential nominee. Bristol's father, Todd Palin, worked for BP as an oil field production operator, and is currently a commercial fisherman and champion snowmobile racer.

Bristol Palin's first name carries a web of associations for both her parents: Of her daughter's name, Sarah Palin explained, "I worked at the Bristol Inn, and Todd grew up in Bristol Bay. But also, Bristol, Connecticut, is the home of ESPN. And when I was in high school, my desire was to be a sportscaster. ESPN was just kicking off, just getting off the ground, and I thought that's what I was going to do in life, is be one of the first woman sportscasters. Until I learned that you'd have to move to Bristol, Connecticut. It was far away. So instead, I had a daughter and named her Bristol."

According to her mother, as a child, Bristol Palin was "a neat freak and perfectionist," and is "kind of an old soul, mature beyond her years." Growing up with an uncommon work ethic and a great disdain for drama, Bristol potty trained herself at 14 months. She possessed an adult personality and strong motherly instincts from a very young age. "She didn't like gossip or wasting time," Sarah Palin once recalled, adding that just before her seventh birthday, Bristol said to her mother, "You are going to rent me a baby for my birthday."

For the first 16 years of her life, up to 2006, Bristol lived a fairly typical Alaskan childhood. She was a diligent and hardworking student who is described by her friends as fun and free-spirited. In 2006, Sarah Palin was elected governor of Alaska, and began splitting her time between Wasilla and Juneau, the state capital. This family upheaval caused Bristol to attend three different high schools—Juneau-Douglas High School in the capital; West Anchorage High School in Alaska's largest city (where Bristol briefly lived with an aunt); and Wasilla High School in her hometown.

Bristol's boyfriend throughout much of high school was Levi Johnston, the precociously handsome and well-liked star of the Wasilla Warriors hockey team. Outside of school hours, Palin worked at a local coffee shop for $7.25 an hour and dreamed of one day opening her own cafe with one of her cousins.

The year 2008, however, was filled with dramatic changes for Bristol that would transform her from an anonymous high school student into a national celebrity, stalked by paparazzi and subjected to speculation on gossip pages all across the country.