Bristol Palin

At 34 years old, Bristol Palin has this physical status:

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.

In May 2009, on Good Morning America, Palin said, "Regardless of what I did personally, abstinence is the only 100% foolproof way you can prevent pregnancy." In an interview on Good Morning America in April 2010, she said that "'Pause Before You Play' [a campaign of Candie's] hits a wider range of message, it can mean pause and go get a condom, it can be pause and think about your life, or it could be pause and wait until marriage."

Her role as a spokesperson drew some public criticism. Bonnie Fuller, former editor-in-chief of YM, questioned whether the net effect of Palin's public speaking had glamorized rather than discouraged teen pregnancy, noting that the "picture perfect" imagery of a People magazine spread seemed to make her "the poster girl for teen momhood". That same month, Meghan McCain stated her support for sex education, criticizing Palin's sexual abstinence campaign, saying it was "not realistic for this generation".

In April 2011 the media reported that Palin was paid more than $262,000 by Candie's Foundation for her work in 2009. This level of compensation, which constituted 12% of the foundation's annual budget, was criticized by some commentators as excessive.

In a July 10, 2011, interview with Drew Pinsky, Palin said she does not want to "be named as an abstinence preacher .... I'm not out there saying don't have sex. I hate that kind of stuff. Birth control needs to be used effectively each and every single time if you're gonna be having sex. ... I'm not advocating [abstinence] for everyone else."

On July 13, 2011, Palin had an interview with Christianity Today in which she reaffirmed her stance on abstinence. Discussing whether she still thought that abstinence was unrealistic, as she had said in 2009, she said "that quote was taken out of context. What I am trying to say is it's not realistic for everyone...but for me, my sisters, and my family, I believe that’s the right way." Palin still feels that abstinence is the only choice for her and her family.

In 2015, Bristol Palin took to her blog to correct the media regarding what the Candies Organization is and her role within it, stating, "Let's get another thing straight, because I can't tolerate all the talk on this subject. I have never been paid as an “abstinence spokesperson.” I was employed by the great people at The Candies Foundation. They are a teen pregnancy prevention non-profit and I worked for them when I was 18 and 19 — when I could share first hand the challenges of being a teen mother. I know you remember me most from when Mom ran for Vice President. However, I'm not 17 anymore, I am 24. I've been employed at the same doctor's office for over six years now; I own a home; I have a well-rounded, beautiful son. I am pregnant [with my second child.] This is not the ideal situation, but life is important even if it's not in the most absolute ideal circumstance. This is more confirmation on what I've always stood for. I've always been pro-life and I am standing for life now."

In May 2010, the media reported that Palin had signed with the company Single Source Speakers, asking between $15,000 and $30,000 for each appearance. She was listed on the company's website as available for conferences, fundraisers, special events and holidays, as well as women's, youth, abstinence, and pro-life programs.

In January 2011, Palin was invited to speak by Washington University in St. Louis as the keynote speaker for "Abstinence in College" at Sexual Responsibility Week. Students protested both the high fee she was to be paid out of student-generated funds and her lack of expertise on abstinence in college. Her appearance was cancelled.

Palin appeared in an episode of the ABC Family network series The Secret Life of the American Teenager, playing a friend of the fictional character Amy, a 15-year-old who is dealing with an unexpected pregnancy. She filmed the scenes in Los Angeles in March 2010; the episode aired on July 5, 2010. "I like doing speaking engagements and stuff like that," she said, adding, "I don't think I'll be doing any more acting in the future."

Palin was a competitor on the fall 2010 season of Dancing with the Stars. She was partnered with professional Mark Ballas, who had won with Olympic figure skater Kristi Yamaguchi in Season 6 and with Olympic gymnast Shawn Johnson in Season 8. The season was televised from September through November 2010.

Despite getting the lowest scores from the judges for a number of weeks, Palin and Ballas avoided being eliminated during the season. That attracted media attention and speculation. Questions were raised about the integrity of the public voting process including allegations of fraudulent online voting using multiple e-mail addresses. ABC executives and the show's executive producer, Conrad Green, said that "checks and balances" in the system, including IP-address verification, prevent such voting practices. Green said, "There's nothing in the voting that looks dissimilar to previous seasons". Nonetheless, Green speculated that Palin may have received votes from her mother's fans and other supporters, and from older viewers who had maternal feelings toward her due to her youth and lack of experience. Palin credited her success to the support of her fans who were tuning in each week to see her improvement.

Palin's success on the show attracted death threats and other negative attention. Suspicious white powder was sent to the show; it turned out to be harmless, but security on the show was tightened.

On the final show of the season, Palin and Ballas finished in third place. Before the show, Palin said that winning "would be like a big middle finger out there to all the people out there who hate my mom and hate me". Following the competition, she remarked that she was happy with her third-place finish, that prayer and faith had helped her, and that she had grown as a person.

In November 2010, Bristol Palin made an appearance on the TLC travelogue-documentary Sarah Palin's Alaska. She helped the crew on a commercial halibut fishing boat.

In October 2010, while competing on Dancing With the Stars Season 11, Palin appeared in a music video for an Alaskan symphony rock band called Static Cycle. The video was shot at the Ice Museum in Chena Hot Springs, Alaska.

Palin's docu-series Life's a Tripp, produced by Associated Television International, premiered on June 19, 2012, in the United States, on Lifetime TV. Lifetime ordered 14 episodes for original broadcast. The series followed Palin as she moved to Los Angeles, then back to Alaska, with two episodes set in Arizona (where her sister Willow was attending beauty school) and one episode in Washington, D.C.

Palin competed on the all-star Season 15 of DWTS, which began in late September 2012. She was again partnered with Mark Ballas. The two were eliminated in week 4 of the season, in which they had the second-lowest score from the judges.

In July 2018, Bristol was cast in Teen Mom OG after Farrah Abraham's exit from the show. She quit in April 2019.

In July 2018, Palin began working as a real estate agent with Keller Williams Realty in Austin, Texas.

In late January 2020, Bristol joined local boutique real estate agency Austin Home Seekers to expand the Bristol Palin Team.

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