Sarah and Todd Palin welcomed Jesse Palmer and the DailyMailTV crew into their Wasilla, Alaska home and opened up about their life together as all their children except Trig have left the nest, their views on the volatile political landscape and their plans for the future. Tomorrow, Part 2 of their extraordinary interview.
Sarah Palin has had a life of tremendous achievements. She was the first female governor of Alaska, the first Republican woman on a presidential ticket and she has parlayed her political success into a significant place in American pop culture — all from a tiny town in the most remote state in the country.
But in the background, there have always been family challenges that have tested her and her husband Todd.
There is daughter Bristol, who was 17 when she had to face becoming the country’s most famous pregnant teen just as her mother was reaching the pinnacle of her political career.
There is their son Track who has had a well-documented battle with pills and alcohol after finding the transition from military service in a war zone impossible to cope with.
And there is their youngest son Trig, who was born with Down Syndrome, and will need special care for for the rest of his life.
Sarah and Todd Palin, both 54, sat down with DailyMailTV at their home in Wasilla, Alaska and opened up about their family, marriage, and life after the 2008 presidential election
Sarah spoke with DailyMailTV host Jesse Palmer about the family challenges that have tested her and her husband Todd – including her daughter’s teen pregnancy, her son’s battle with addiction, and learning her youngest son Trig would have special needs
Ten years ago: The former governor of Alaska was reaching the pinnacle of her political career during her vice presidential run with John McCain in 2008. Her daughter Bristol was 17 and pregnant and her youngest son Trig was only four months old. Pictured left to right: Track Palin, Sarah with son Trig, Bristol Palin and ex-boyfriend Levi Johnston, Willow Palin, and Piper Palin
Sarah and Todd, both 54, sat down with DailyMailTV host Jesse Palmer at their home in Wasilla, Alaska to discuss openly the tremendous highs and the deep lows of their 30-year marriage.
Todd was 1,700 miles away working on an oil field in Canada when 12-week pregnant Sarah was told their fifth child would suffer from the condition.
‘That was a tough time, but a blessing too,’ Sarah said.
She had to tell him the news on the phone. ‘Todd didn’t say anything and I said aren’t you asking “Why us?” and Todd said “I’m thinking why not us?”
‘I was still scared — I was — didn’t know what to expect, didn’t how wonderful it was going to be.’
But she said the challenges of having a special needs child should never be underestimated.
‘It’s the practical things, like brushing teeth and feeding and going to the bathroom.
‘If I hear a parent gripe about their two-year-old — “Uhh he wouldn’t let me brush his teeth today!” —I’m just like “Man, appreciate that you have it relatively easy.”
‘The most challenging thing is trying not to look too far into the future and being scared of what perhaps Trig would face. I’m just so thankful that he’s got the big extended family with his big brother and big sisters. He’s always gonna be taken care of.’
Now Trig, 10, pretty much runs the Palin household, Todd revealed.
Sarah didn’t announce she was expecting her fifth child until she was seven months pregnant, and Trig was born six weeks prematurely.
Family: Sarah (pictured with daughter Piper, left, and son Trig, center) spoke about learning how her youngest son would be born with Down Syndrome. She’s described it as ‘a tough time, but a blessing too’
She says their family drama only made the Palins more human and she was amazed by the public’s reaction to her daughter’s pregnancy
Sarah admitted it’s a ‘blessing’ that the family lives ‘in relative seclusion’ but says it’s not all that peaceful because of their large family
‘It’s easy to hide in Alaska, you just put on more layers,’ she said.
‘To this day, people still say that can’t be your child, you were only pregnant for two weeks.’
It is not just Trig’s condition that has tested the Palins. Their oldest child, Track, has been in trouble with the law for assaulting both a pregnant girlfriend and his father after abusing pills and alcohol as he struggled to adjust to life following Army tours of duty in Iraq.
Second child Bristol has been at the center of scandal after getting pregnant at 17, and then calling off her marriage to Medal of Honor winner Dakota Meyer days before they were due to walk down the aisle in 2015.
Bristol later got pregnant by Meyer and had a daughter before they eventually married. Once wed, they had a second child but they divorced after less than two years.
And it is that sort of drama, says Sarah, that makes the Palins more human.
She remembers the Republican National Convention in St. Paul, Minnesota in 2008, when she was number two on her party’s ticket.
‘Trig was a 16-week-old baby at the time. Bristol in high school, teenage and pregnant. We were just a microcosm of America. We were up there on stage and I just thought ‘Oh man…who’da thunk?’
‘Anything is possible in America and wow, God blesses us.’
It was in St. Paul that Palin made her most famous speech, gaining a rapturous reception from delegates from across the country when she made her joke about lipstick being the only difference between a hockey mom and a pitbull.
Sarah and Todd met in high school after he moved to Wasilla and the couple have been married for 30 years
This is the Palins family home in Wasilla, Alaska. Todd and Sarah have been fixtures in the city of less than 10,000 people, since they were teens
Details: The Palins are known for their Christian faith and their pro-gun views. Above is a ‘MAGA’ clutch at the Palins’ home
That, she reveals, all came about because her teleprompter was playing up.
‘The bottom half of everything was cut off so I’m thinking, well this is a great start to the campaign. Very telling wasn’t it? OK, I’m gonna have to wing it for a little bit.
‘So that next time I looked out in the audience I saw some hockey jerseys on some moms and said the joke while I’m waiting for the teleprompter to get cranked up.
‘I think that was a providential moment.’
Bristol’s pregnancy could have been a major problem for the McCain campaign, and still, 10 years later, the way the campaign announced it without telling her, rankles her.
‘I read it on a chyron on a hotel television,’ she revealed. ‘I’m like: “Aw man.” I was so disappointed that they announced it the way they did.’
She added: ‘People sure acted like she was the first knocked up teenager in the entire country and you know, how appalling it was all.
‘And everybody got this moral transplant overnight it seemed, and were judging her.
‘Bristol has faced a lot of challenges, but you make the most of whatever situation you’re in.’
Growing family: Sarah has five children and now five grandchildren, through daughter Bristol (pictured far left with ex-husband Dakota) and son Track (far right)
All grown up: Sarah and Todd pictured with daughters Piper and Bristol, and son Trig
But she said she was amazed by the public’s reaction to the pregnancy. ‘It was so reassuring and empowering to know that every family has challenges, everybody has their own story and their battles.
‘Ours just happened to be splashed across the front page of the Daily Mail and National Enquirer!
‘For the most part, people in this country have a good heart and they want the best for you, and you want the best for them. That was made manifest for me with Bristol’s whole pregnancy.’
Bristol, now 27, is due to appear in the new season of Teen Mom OG. Sarah will make cameo appearances on the show.
Todd said Track, 29, is now doing well and in college, but he blames the Army for his son’s problems.
‘They go off to combat and they come back and, from what I gather, they go into some office they go OK where were you?’ he said.
‘Well you were here and there and here, so how about 600 bucks a month for the rest of your life and how about you take these pills?
‘I wish there was a reentry boot camp for our soldiers returning, time to build them back up mentally and physically strong.’
And Sarah too slammed the lack of help their son received on his discharge from the military.
‘There is no good transition process for these young women from military life into civilian life.
Cutting to the chase with typical Palin bluntness, she pointed out the heart of the problem.
‘If you think about it, who is orchestrating the whole transition process?’ she asked. ‘It’s people in the military who have never transitioned their career.’
Track made headlines last year when he was involved in brawl with his own father during the family’s December vacation. Sarah reveals they have since forgiven their eldest son and adds that’s he’s ‘done good’ and is ‘fine.’
Sarah and Todd met in high school after he moved to Wasilla and immediately made an impact on the school’s basketball team, which her father, Chuck Heath, coached.
One dinner time shortly before the school year was to begin, Heath told his family that the new boy was the best player Wasilla had ever had.
‘A couple days later we met on the basketball court,’ admitted Sarah.
‘And I wrote TP on my hand because he was like my first boyfriend — the first kid I ever had a crush on — and then that night at the dinner table my dad saw that his initials were on my hands he was like that was kind of a floozy thing to do! I was so embarrassed.’
On their 30 years of marriage Sarah added: ‘Well it’s not easy there’s ups and downs and I think people just need to remember when you’re on that downswing there’s going to be an upswing, you know to hang in there… but we had hellish times.’
Sarah was herself a high school basketball stand-out. Playing point guard, she helped the Wasilla Warriors win the state championship.
‘We were the underdogs, working our butts off knowing that we could do it and we did. People probably think that it’s hokey to hear but it changed my life and it showed me that you can do anything.’