Bristol Palin has a gnat problem, and we all get to hear about it.
That’s how she describes her estranged baby daddy, Levi Johnston, who, if her new memoir out this week is to be believed, took her virginity when she was 17 during a camping trip while she was drunk on wine coolers.
Classy, right? By the way, this “gnat” is running for mayor of their hometown, Wasilla, Alaska, but that’s beside the point.
Bristol has been under a microscope since it was announced she was pregnant out of wedlock shortly after Mama Grizzly herself, Sarah Palin, joined Senator John McCain’s presidential ticket in 2008.
Since then, her son Tripp was born, she danced on “Dancing With the Stars,” bought a $172,000 house in Arizona, and guest-starred on “The Secret Life of the American Teenager.” Now, she’s renting that house out (for $1,400 a month) while she films a reality show in Los Angeles. Also, she and her mother started to fill out paperwork to trademark their names.
Something tells me her new book isn’t about the hurdles of being a typical teenage mother, but about her jam-packed life. Perhaps it should be.
Bristol is in a unique position. Thanks to American politics and our fascination with anything sordid, she went from just another schoolgirl with poor judgment to a public relations lightning rod — and an industry unto herself.
Instead of using her fame to bring awareness to issues like teen alcohol abuse and teen pregnancy, however, she’s championed her mother’s causes, and spent much of her time defending the former governor in the media.
Not that there’s anything wrong with sticking up for your mom.
I’m simply saying that Bristol is in a unique position to distance herself from her mother, now that the 2008 election has sailed into history.
She can let everyone know what she’s going through, or what her aspirations are without tying them back to her mother and/or giving her more ammo for her arsenal.
Not that Bristol hasn’t done her share of charity work.
However, her work with the Candie’s Foundation, which cautions young people about teen pregnancy, reportedly netted her close to $300,000, which is not what your average teen mom makes while living at home.
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With this book, Bristol has the opportunity to help a lot of people, and to perhaps even come out against the glut of teen pregnancy shows that have become the bread and butter of MTV, glossy rags such as OK and INTouch and the formerly-responsible People.
Or, she can continue on the road she’s been on, showing up almost daily on “TMZ,” preening and stumbling her way through televised dancing competitions and having what are essentially high-school screaming matches with her baby daddy in the tabloids.
In which case, she is no less of a buzzing, bothersome gnat.
