http://www.vanityfair.com/online/daily/2009/09/levi-johnston.html
Three days after Sarah Palin was announced as the Republican vice-presidential candidate, the McCain campaign released a statement saying that her 17-year-old unwed daughter, Bristol, was pregnant. The babyâs father, an 18-year-old former hometown hockey star, was thus thrust into the national spotlight. In the October issue of Vanity Fair, Levi Johnston explains what happened behind the curtains of the campaignâand inside the Palin home.
For âMe and Mrs. Palin,â Johnston tells Vanity Fair his story about life with the Palin familyâwith whom he lived for two months after the electionâover the course of his two-and-a-half-year relationship with Bristol. He turns a number of commonly held beliefs about the former governorâthe purportedly loving mother, devoted wife, and prolific hunterâupside down.
The Palin house was much different from what many people expect of a normal family, even before she was nominated for vice president. There wasnât much parenting in that house. Sarah doesnât cook, Todd doesnât cookâthe kids would do it all themselves: cook, clean, do the laundry, and get ready for school. Most of the time Bristol would help her youngest sister with her homework, and Iâd barbecue chicken or steak on the grill.
Even before Palin became John McCainâs running mate, she seemed worried about what a grandchild would do to her political career. According to Johnston, she had a plan for how to handle her daughterâs unexpected pregnancy.
Sarah told me she had a great idea: we would keep it a secretânobody would know that Bristol was pregnant. She told me that once Bristol had the baby she and Todd would adopt him. That way, she said, Bristol and I didnât have to worry about anything. Sarah kept mentioning this plan. She was naggingâshe wouldnât give up. She would say, âSo, are you gonna let me adopt him?â We both kept telling her we were definitely not going to let her adopt the baby. I think Sarah wanted to make Bristol look good, and she didnât want people to know that her 17-year-old daughter was going to have a kid.
After the campaign, Johnston watched Palin turn into a different person. The result back home in Alaska was a woman ready to turn in elected office for money.
Sarah was sad for a while. She walked around the house pouting. I had assumed she was going to go back to her job as governor, but a week or two after she got back she started talking about how nice it would be to quit and write a book or do a show and make âtriple the money.â It was, to her, ânot as hard.â She would blatantly say, âI want to just take this money and quit being governor.â She started to say it frequently, but she didnât know how to do it. When she came home from work, it seemed like she was more and more stressed out.
Three days after Sarah Palin was announced as the Republican vice-presidential candidate, the McCain campaign released a statement saying that her 17-year-old unwed daughter, Bristol, was pregnant. The babyâs father, an 18-year-old former hometown hockey star, was thus thrust into the national spotlight. In the October issue of Vanity Fair, Levi Johnston explains what happened behind the curtains of the campaignâand inside the Palin home.
For âMe and Mrs. Palin,â Johnston tells Vanity Fair his story about life with the Palin familyâwith whom he lived for two months after the electionâover the course of his two-and-a-half-year relationship with Bristol. He turns a number of commonly held beliefs about the former governorâthe purportedly loving mother, devoted wife, and prolific hunterâupside down.
The Palin house was much different from what many people expect of a normal family, even before she was nominated for vice president. There wasnât much parenting in that house. Sarah doesnât cook, Todd doesnât cookâthe kids would do it all themselves: cook, clean, do the laundry, and get ready for school. Most of the time Bristol would help her youngest sister with her homework, and Iâd barbecue chicken or steak on the grill.
Even before Palin became John McCainâs running mate, she seemed worried about what a grandchild would do to her political career. According to Johnston, she had a plan for how to handle her daughterâs unexpected pregnancy.
Sarah told me she had a great idea: we would keep it a secretânobody would know that Bristol was pregnant. She told me that once Bristol had the baby she and Todd would adopt him. That way, she said, Bristol and I didnât have to worry about anything. Sarah kept mentioning this plan. She was naggingâshe wouldnât give up. She would say, âSo, are you gonna let me adopt him?â We both kept telling her we were definitely not going to let her adopt the baby. I think Sarah wanted to make Bristol look good, and she didnât want people to know that her 17-year-old daughter was going to have a kid.
After the campaign, Johnston watched Palin turn into a different person. The result back home in Alaska was a woman ready to turn in elected office for money.
Sarah was sad for a while. She walked around the house pouting. I had assumed she was going to go back to her job as governor, but a week or two after she got back she started talking about how nice it would be to quit and write a book or do a show and make âtriple the money.â It was, to her, ânot as hard.â She would blatantly say, âI want to just take this money and quit being governor.â She started to say it frequently, but she didnât know how to do it. When she came home from work, it seemed like she was more and more stressed out.
