There's no good way to find out that someone you've been married to for more than 30 years
doesn't really want to talk things through anymore and wants out of the marriage. So
we've got nothing but sympathy for Sarah Palin, who served as Alaska's first woman governor,
when she shared the story of how she found out her marital status was about to change.
NBC News reported that Sarah Palin learned her husband Todd wanted a divorce through
an email from his attorney, which she received a week after they marked their 31st wedding
anniversary. It turns out that Todd filed for divorce on his birthday, three months
prior.
The former Alaska governor told James Dobson, founder of the Family Talk Christian ministry,
that getting the email was a shock, saying,
“It's not easy to talk about. It was devastating. I thought I got shot."
While Sarah said at the time that she had hoped that counseling would help her and Todd
work things out because, as she put it, quote, "it's not over over," it appears she was more
optimistic than she should have been, because the two of them are no longer a couple.
Sarah Heath and Todd Palin met at Wasilla High School, after Todd moved to Alaska. The
Los Angeles Times says they were both smitten with each other, and eloped after Sarah returned
to Alaska with a degree in communications from the University of Idaho.
Todd may not have gone to college, but he was trained by London-based BP to work in
Alaska's oil fields, where he was making as much as $100,000 to $120,000 a year. Anchorage
Daily News reported that he was earning this salary at the time he took a leave in 2006,
in order to avoid accusations of any conflict of interest resulting from his wife's position
as governor. After that, the first dude, as he was known in the state, took up more domestic
responsibilities.
In his filing, Todd cited the reason to end his marriage as, quote, "incompatibility of
temperament between the parties such that they find it impossible to live together as
husband and wife." People said that phrasing was the same as blaming the breakdown of their
marriage on so-called irreconcilable differences. Other than the fact that Todd wanted joint
custody of their youngest son, Trig, as well as a fair division of their belongings, little
else is known about the divorce petition, because the lawyers had likely asked for documents
to remain confidential.
The divorce in 2019 didn't just come as a surprise to Sarah. It also surprised their
good friend, actor Dean Cain, who said he had been at their home months before their
split was announced.
The actor told People last year,
"They seemed wonderful together. I'd hate to speculate on the cause — what happens
behind closed doors and how people grow and change over time is something no one can ever
predict or understand, save those two people."
No matter how both Sarah and Todd Palin have chosen to move on from their marriage, Cain
said they'll keep their family front and center, telling the publication,
"I know that they're both extremely devoted and wonderful parents, and I'm certain that
they'll both remain dedicated to Trig and their other children."
Sarah Palin, meanwhile, became a household name when the late Senator John McCain picked
her to be his running mate during his failed 2008 presidential campaign.
"Governor Sarah Palin of the great state of Alaska."
While Palin proved to be a popular candidate, McCain ultimately wasn't too keen on his pick,
and the two ended up having a rather complicated relationship. There were times McCain revealed
his regrets over his choice of running mate.
New York Times columnist David Brooks told The Guardian,
"I don't think he [McCain] could have known it at the time but he took a disease that
was running through the Republican party — anti-intellectualism, disrespect for facts — and he put it right
at the center of the party."
Palin herself expressed some hurt over the estrangement.
"You know, I think I described it earlier as a gut punch."
Still, the former governor's popularity didn't wane when their ticket fell to the Obama-Biden
team, and Sarah Palin remained in the political limelight, capitalizing on her name recognition
by becoming a Fox News Channel contributor and with her TLC television show Sarah Palin's
Alaska, as well as penning several books.
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