Bristol Palin’s Son Tripp Texted Her About Wanting to Live With His Dad: It Was ‘Gut-Wrenching’

Bristol Palin is opening up about how her son, Tripp, told her about wanting to live with his father in Alaska.

"It still is gut-wrenching to me," Palin, 33, admitted on the Monday, August 26, episode of Cheryl Burke 's "Sex, Lies, and Spray Tans" podcast. "It's been just Tripp and I, and then I had my girls, but it's always been Tripp and I."

Having the 15-year-old away from home has "changed the dynamic" within the family, but Palin said that the teenager "does need his dad." (Palin shares her son with ex Levi Johnston and welcomed daughters Sailor, 8, and Atlee, 7, with ex-husband Dakota Meyer .)

"[Tripp] needs that relationship," Palin continued. "He thinks that this is best right now and all I can do is just hope and pray that it is what's best. ... 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."

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Palin further revealed that Tripp was the one who initiated the conversation about staying with Johnston, 34. "He just texted me and was like, 'Hey, Mom, I'm not coming back,'" she recalled. "I couldn't even believe it. At first I'm like, 'I'm coming up to Alaska, we're not doing this.' I was so mad."

The Teen Mom OG alum acknowledged that it was "a monumental decision" for her son, noting that the duo keep in close contact when they're apart. "I respect that he thinks this is what's best and he needs that relationship with his dad," she said. "Selfishly, I'm like, 'I just want him with me forever.' He's my best friend. My kids are my whole world. But I can't be selfish in that."

Palin revealed via social media earlier this month that Tripp wasn't living with her in Texas as she showed her daughters getting ready to go back to school .

"This has been the hardest 'first day of school' yet with one of the biggest pieces of my heart missing," she wrote via her Instagram Story on August 14. "Tripp has decided to finish out high school in Alaska to be closer to his dad and our entire family."

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Palin told her followers that her son has a passion for hunting and fishing, making Alaska the perfect place for him. "As hard as it has been to come to grips with his decision — it's truly not about what I want," she continued. "He's almost 16 years old and that relationship with his dad is a lot more important than my own selfish desires of having him with his mama forever!"

While discussing her son's move with Burke, 40, Palin emphasized that Tripp had "a really good group of friends" in Texas. She also pointed out that her family — including mom Sarah Palin — still has their home base in Alaska.

"Maybe one day I'll have a secondary home there. ... I go up quite a bit," Bristol said. "I'm there, like, every other month to see my family. I'll be up there plenty to watch him play football and whatnot."

Bristol began dating Johnston in high school, welcoming Tripp in 2008. The pair dated on and off until splitting for good in 2010 and were locked in a messy battle for custody after their breakup. Johnston was eventually granted joint custody in 2016, the same year Bristol married Meyer, 36. The former spouses divorced in 2018.