Ethermac Exchange-Bristol Palin Shares 15-Year-Old Son Tripp Has Moved Back to Alaska

“This has been the hardest ‘first day of school’ yet with one of the biggest pieces of my heart missing,” the 33-year-old, who shares Tripp with her ex Levi Johnston, wrote on Instagram Aug. 14. “Tripp has decided to finish out high school in Alaska to be closer to his dad and our entire family.”

“As hard as it has been to come to grips with his decision – it’s truly not about what I want,” the daughter of Todd Palin and Sarah Palin said. “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! I can’t talk about it yet without crying, but selfishly praying for a quick year and easy transition for us all.”

Bristol relocated from Alaska to Texas amid her marriage to Dakota and stayed in the Lone Star state after their 2018 divorce for the sake of her daughters.

The former couple’s drama played out on Teen Mom OG at the time, with Bristol accusing Dakota of being “petty” and moving her stuff out of their bedroom in their Texas home.

In 2022, she shared that the exes had gotten into a good rhythm as coparents.

“Getting along as coparents makes life a lot easier,” she wrote on Instagram alongside a family photo with Dakota and her three kids at the time. “Put aside the past, differences, etc and focus on what’s best for your babes, not loosing sight of that - is everything.”

Bristol, whose pregnancy made national news amid her mom’s vice presidential bid alongside John McCain in 2008, has previously gotten candid about her journey to motherhood.

“From pregnant at 17 years old - to being a single mom of 3 - you don’t have to know much about me to know that my life definitely does not have a white picket fence wrapped around it,” Bristol captioned a Mother’s Day Instagram post in 2022. “Despite my own shortcomings or ‘less than ideal’ circumstances, becoming *and being* a mom to these babies have been the absolute greatest joy.”