If you followed the news during John McCain’s 2008 presidential campaign, Sarah Palin was a name you couldn’t miss.
The former Governor of Alaska was thrust into the spotlight as McCain’s running mate. Despite their loss to Barack Obama, Palin became known as a “force of nature” in Republican politics.
Now 58, Palin remains active in the Republican Party, though recent headlines have focused more on her personal life.
In 2020, after nearly three decades of marriage, Palin announced her divorce from her husband.
The details of the split were surprising, and the former Republican vice-presidential nominee has recently shared more about this high-profile breakup.
Sarah Palin and Todd
Sarah Palin was born in Sandpoint, Idaho, in 1964, but her family moved to Alaska when she was just a few months old. She grew up in the small town of Wasilla, about 40 miles north of Anchorage.
At Wasilla High School, Palin excelled as a basketball star and quickly became a well-known leader among her peers.
“Basketball was a life-changing experience for me. It’s all about setting a goal, discipline, teamwork, and success,” she once remarked.
It was also at a basketball game that she met her future husband, Todd Palin. In August 1988, the high school sweethearts eloped, heading to the local courthouse to get married. However, they discovered they needed witnesses. After persuading two people from a nearby pioneers’ home, they were able to tie the knot.
Sarah explained that they eloped because they were both poor and didn’t want their parents to bear the cost of a wedding, as she shared with the Anchorage Daily News in 2008.
Sarah Palin and Todd have five children together: Track Charles James (1989), Bristol Sheeran Marie (1990), Willow Bianca Faye (1994), Piper Indy Grace (2001), and Trig Paxson Van (2008), who has Down syndrome.
Palin’s passion for sports is evident in her children’s names. Willow is named after the renowned female sports journalist Willow Bay, who covered the NBA, and Bristol is named after the town where ESPN is based.
A registered Republican since 1982, Palin worked as a journalist and helped run Todd’s family’s commercial fishing business before entering politics in 1992.
Her folksy personality and charm won over many voters. In 2006, she made history as Alaska’s first female and youngest governor.
Throughout her political career, Palin had strong support from her husband, who humorously referred to himself as the “First Dude” during her governorship. Despite Sarah’s high-profile career, Todd, who is part Yup’ik Eskimo, remained modest. According to Scott Davis, a close friend, Todd was almost embarrassed or shy about his wife’s role and took time to adjust to the attention.
Todd, a four-time champion of the world’s longest snowmobile race, the “Iron Dog,” worked in oil production and was a member of Alaska’s Independence Party from 1995 to 2002.
The Palin family lived in a two-story, 3,450-square-foot home near Lake Lucille in Wasilla. Their marriage was often seen as a model union, and Todd took an active role in their children’s lives, especially when Sarah was selected as John McCain’s running mate in 2008.
Sarah portrayed herself as “just your average hockey mom,” but she faced typical parental worries. Just three days into the Republican presidential campaign, she announced that her unmarried 17-year-old daughter, Bristol, was five months pregnant.
It shook the Palin family, a very Christian household, to the core.
“Trig was just 16 weeks old at the time. Bristol was in high school, a pregnant teenager. We were a microcosm of America. Standing on that stage, I thought, ‘Oh man…who’d have thought?’” Palin recalled.
According to Levi Johnston, the father of Bristol’s baby, Sarah Palin was desperate to keep the pregnancy a secret and even suggested adopting the baby herself. “Sarah told me she had a great idea: we would keep it a secret—nobody would know that Bristol was pregnant,” Johnston revealed to Vanity Fair in 2009.
Once the news became public, Sarah and Todd released a statement expressing their support: “We are proud of Bristol’s decision to have her baby and even prouder to become grandparents.”
Today, Bristol is 31, a mother of three, and runs a successful real estate company in Texas, marking her achievements in both personal and professional life.
Divorce via an email
In the eyes of many, Sarah and Todd Palin epitomized harmony and shared strong Christian values. Despite facing numerous challenges, including media scrutiny and family hardships, their three-decade marriage symbolized strength and love.
However, just days after their 31st wedding anniversary in 2019, Sarah received a divorce notice from Todd via email. Discovering this through a third party left the mother of five and grandmother of seven heartbroken.
“I felt like I got shot,” she said. “I found out from an email from an attorney on June 19; I’ll never forget it. It’s not easy to talk about,” she shared in an interview with Christian author James Dobson.
For Sarah, who valued her marriage immensely, the news was devastating. “I’m sure many of you either have been through it or have loved ones who have. It’s horrible. Except for the death of a child, I don’t know what could be worse. It hurts,” she revealed.
In September 2019, Todd filed for divorce, citing “incompatibility of temperament” as the reason for their inability to live together as husband and wife.
Despite this, Sarah was determined to fight for her marriage and sought counseling. “We’re going through counseling now, so it’s not over,” she told James Dobson in November 2019. “Attorneys are getting rich off us, and I don’t like that system. It makes no sense to me.”
Sarah found support from her children during this difficult time. “My kids are cool because they don’t like it, and that helps me. They’ve been brought up with the belief that you’ve made a covenant with God,” she said.
“My parents have been married for 58 years. In our family, we stick together through thick and thin because you made a vow to God to overcome any hurdles and make it work.”
Though divorce rumors had long surrounded Sarah and Todd, this time it was real. Their divorce was finalized on March 23, 2020.
Sarah Palin boyfriend
Since then, Sarah Palin has kept a low profile, refraining from openly discussing her breakup. However, in April 2022, she finally opened up about her new love and the pain of divorce.
According to Sarah, her ex-husband now has a new partner who lives in New York City. “He spends his time with his girlfriend, whom he’s had for some time now. She lives down in the lower 48, so he spends a lot of time there,” she said.
Sarah has also found love again; she’s currently dating former New York Rangers star Ron Duguay. The couple was spotted dining outdoors in January 2022, and they confirmed their romance a month later.
Duguay, a longtime friend of Palin’s, fell in love with her after she asked him to show her around New York City. In an interview with the New York Post, she described their relationship as “safe and comfortable.”
“Ron is the first person I’ve ever talked to about a lot of this personal stuff. It’s been helpful and refreshing to have Ron to talk to—not just about politics, because he’s got more common sense in his little finger than the collective in DC—but about life,” Sarah explained.
Now running for Alaska’s at-large congressional seat, Palin has strong support from her new boyfriend. Duguay has been actively involved in her campaign, helping her in Alaska.
Going through a public divorce is never easy, especially with children involved. But we hope Sarah can find new energy and happiness with her new partner!