NEW YORK – Teenage mother Bristol Palin, daughter of former US vice-presidential candidate Sarah Palin, told a US celebrity magazine she is engaged to her on-again off-again boyfriend before telling her own mother.
Ms Palin (19), whose previous engagement to Levi Johnston (20) was called off after giving birth to their son in December 2008, told US Weeklythey recently reconnected and got engaged two weeks ago. "It felt right, even though we don't have the approval of our parents," Ms Palin told the magazine in a statement yesterday. "It is intimidating and scary just to think about what her reaction is going to be. Hopefully she will jump on board."
Sarah Palin, who is thought to be preparing a White House bid and has publicly feuded with Mr Johnston in the past, reacted to the engagement in a statement to NBC news by saying her daughter was making her own decision. “We obviously want what’s best for our children. Bristol believes in redemption and forgiveness to a degree most of us struggle to put in practice in our daily lives.”
After breaking up with the younger Palin last year Mr Johnston appeared on a number of TV shows and in nude men's magazine Playgirl, criticising Sarah Palin as a poor parent who did not get along with her husband. He apologised to the Palins in Peoplemagazine last week, saying he had said things that were not completely true.
US Weekly's Caroline Schaefer told the TodayTV show on Tuesday that the younger Palin told the magazine first of her engagement to publicly clear up any misunderstandings. She said the reunited couple were living separately and practising abstinence and would likely get married within the next month.
Since giving birth Ms Palin has been increasingly outspoken, urging young Americans to abstain from having sex to avoid pregnancy. She has been featured in entertainment shows and magazines and last week made her acting debut on a TV show that centres around teenage pregnancy. Her own pregnancy was another awkward moment during the 2008 campaign of her mother, a staunch conservative who supported teaching abstinence in public schools as a form of sex education.
Her mother has recently fuelled speculation she could be preparing a 2012 White House bid, raising more than $865,000 in political contributions over the past three months. – (Reuters)