Teen Mom’s Bristol Palin shares ‘gut-wrenching’ way son Tripp, 15, revealed he was ‘not coming home’

TEEN Mom’s Bristol Palin has opened up about the moment her son told her he was moving in with his father, Levi Johnston, in Alaska.

The former reality star lives in Texas with her two daughters, Sailor Grace, eight, and Atlee Bay, seven, whom she shares with her ex-husband, Dakota Meyer , 36.

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Instagram/Bristol Palin

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Bristol’s oldest child, Tripp , 15, has lived with his mother primarily all his life but decided to relocate earlier this summer to be closer to his dad.

The ex- Teen Mom star, 33, discussed the move on Monday’s episode of the podcast, Sex, Lies, and Spray Tans with Cheryl Burke , admitting it was heartbreaking to hear.

“It still is gut-wrenching to me,” Bristol said of her son – whom she and Levi, 34, welcomed when they were teenagers – leaving home.

“It’s been just Tripp and I, and then I had my girls, but it’s always been Tripp and I, and then he’d spend a couple of weeks in Alaska, and then he’d come back.”

LETTING GO

Although the distance had been difficult, Bristol explained that she didn’t want to hinder the teenager’s efforts to strengthen his bond with his father.

“It’s changed the dynamic so much, but it’s one of those things where he’s almost 16, he does need his dad. He needs that relationship, and he thinks it’s best right now, and all I can do is just hope and pray that it is what’s best,” the former MTV star said.

“Kids, especially boys, they need their dads, and I can’t hinder that for myself. So as hard as it is for me, and it’s so hard for my girls too, I know that he needs to grow that relationship with his dad, and he loves Alaska so much…so I know it’s gonna be a good thing,” Bristol said.

While Bristol has acted supportive of her son’s wishes to move across the country, the news shocked her.

“He was texting, he’s like, ‘Hey Mom, I’m not coming back,'” the real estate mogul recalled. “At first, I’m like, ‘I’m coming up to Alaska, we’re not doing this.’ I was so mad, so mad.”

She then confessed that she had to put her feelings aside and respect that the move was necessary for the teen.

“My kids are my whole world, but I can’t be selfish in that. He needs to strengthen that relationship, and I just need to support it.”

She also noted that Tripp has been doing well in Alaska , attending school, playing sports, and hanging out with friends.

Bristol – the daughter of former vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin – uprooted her family to Texas from Alaska in March 2017, shortly after her youngest daughter was born.

A year later, the Dancing With the Stars alum split from Dakota and moved into a gorgeous new $773,000, four-bedroom home in Spicewood that she gutted and renovated .

My kids are my whole world, but I can’t be selfish in that. He needs to strengthen that relationship, and I just need to support it.

Bristol Palin Sex, Lies, and Spray Tans with Cheryl Burke podcast

Last week, Bristol posted an emotional Instagram Story in which she revealed that Tripp was no longer living with her and his sisters.

She shared a snap of her daughters smiling in front of their home’s entryway before heading off for their first day of school.

Bristol explained her son’s absence from the photo was due to him moving to her home state, where he’ll finish high school.

Tripp is surrounded by plenty of family in Alaska. His father shares three children, Breeze, 11; Indy, nine; and Delta, five, with his wife, Sunny Oglesby, 32.

Last year, rumors circulated that Sunny was expecting the couple’s fourth child after fans thought she hinted at a possible pregnancy online.

In September 2023, Sunny shut down the chatter in an Instagram post about her diet, where she bluntly stated, “I’m not pregnant.”

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