Bristol Palin expressed her heartbreak over her son Tripp Johnston's decision to leave her family home in Texas in an emotional Instagram post on Wednesday.
Bristol, 33, who is currently based out of Austin, Texas, revealed the teenager has now moved back to the family's native Alaska to live with his father - her former fiancé Levi Johnson, 34.
Bristol is mother to three children: son Tripp, 15, with Johnston, 34; and daughters Sailor Grace, eight, and Atlee Bay, seven, with ex-husband Dakota Meyer, 36.
She posted an image of her two daughters on the doorstep of their home to commemorate their first day of school on Wednesday, while detailing the changing dynamic in her family.
The Wasilla, Alaska native posted an image of her younger two daughters in the post, with text explaining how she's dealing with the move.
'This has been the hardest “first day of school“ yet with one of the biggest pieces of my heart missing,' Bristol said. 'Tripp has decided to finish out high school in Alaska to be closer to his dad and our entire family.
'If you know Tripp, you know he lives for hunting/fishing and I honestly can’t blame him for wanting to be back home.'
Bristol - the daughter of former Alaska governor and 2008 vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin - said she was doing her best to cope with the change.
'As hard as it is has been to come to this decision – it’s truly not about what I want,' Bristol said.
Bristol cited her son growing older and the value of him spending time with his father in explaining how she's handling the family issue.
'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!' Bristol said.
Bristol said she was still highly emotional about the situation, and hoping for as seamless a transition as possible.
'I can’t talk about it yet without crying,' Bristol said, 'but selfishly praying for a quick year and easy transition for us.'
Bristol was thrust into the national limelight in 2008 amid her mother's vice presidential campaign alongside then Republican presidential candidate, late Arizona Sen. John McCain.
She appeared at the Republican National Convention in September 2008 alongside Johnston, as her pregnancy with Tripp when she was 17 made headlines, amid her mother's swift rise to political prominence as McCain's running mate.
Beyond the campaign, her relationship with Johnston remained in the public eye amid a pair of engagements before they eventually split for good.
Bristol made headlines in 2009 when she signed on for a $262,500 position to serve as an abstinence ambassador for a teen pregnancy prevention organization called The Candie's Foundation.
'Abstinence is the only way you can effectively 100 percent prevent pregnancy,' Bristol said in a 2009 Good Morning America appearance. 'It's the safest choice and it will prevent teen pregnancy and a lot of heartache.'
Bristol in March of 2015 revealed she was engaged to Dakota Meyer, a Medal of Honor winner as a Marine. After calling off their engagement, they wed in 2016, prior to Meyer filing for divorce in 2018. She has enjoyed other brief romances since, but is currently single.
Bristol documented her teen pregnancy in her book Not Afraid of My Life, in which she called Levi a 'gnat' who had 'stolen her virginity' while she was drunk. She later insisted on Good Morning America that she was 'not accusing Levi of date rape or rape at all.'
'I'm looking back with adult eyes and thinking, that was a foolish decision,' she said. 'I should never have been underage drinking, and I should never have gotten myself into a situation like that.'
That launched a round of court battles between the two, which started off bitterly and only got worse. In an initial affidavit, Levi asked for the hearings to be public 'as a check against anyone's need to be overly vindictive, aggressive, or malicious.'
He added: 'Not that Bristol would be that way, nor would I. But her mother is powerful, politically ambitious, and has a reputation for being extremely vindictive…So, I think a public case might go a long way in reducing Sarah Palin's instinct to attack.'
In November 2013, Levi filed court documents attempting to get 50/50 custody of Tripp. At the time, he argued it was in the little boy's best interests to have his father around just as much as his mom.
Bristol, who had been awarded full custody by a previous judge, claimed the custody demand was an attempt by the former oilfield worker to reduce his child support payments.
Her lawyer alleged in court that Levi, who had appeared nearly naked in Playgirl after the split, owed $66,000 in back payments.
Shortly afterward, Bristol headed to court again, claiming Levi was an unfit parent, saying he had no regular visits with his firstborn and that rather than pay child support, he spent all his money on fancy cars, hunting, and extravagant trips.
However, Bristol made plenty of money from her own lucrative deals. She became a spokesman for the Candie's Foundation — a non-profit dedicated to preventing teen pregnancy — after Tripp was born, receiving $262,000 in one year for her work, according to her tax returns.
She also appeared on Dancing With the Stars, wrote a 2011 memoir, and had a reality show, Life's a Tripp, on Lifetime TV, which was canceled after one season. She also appeared in Teen Mom OG in 2018.
Bristol used her newfound wealth to buy a five-bedroom home in Arizona, but soon got homesick and moved back to Alaska. By 2014, she was claiming she had not earned a penny in 18 months and pushed a judge to increase Levi's child support payments to $1,750 a month.
Within weeks of that filing, it was Levi's turn to increase the heat, asking a judge to find Bristol in contempt of court for taking Tripp out of Alaska without his permission. The former couple finally settled their child custody dispute over Tripp in 2016, seven years after their son was born.
Levi also has three daughters — Breeze Beretta, Indy Rae, and Delta Jo — with his wife, Sunny Johnston, née Oglesby, whom he married in 2012.
Bristol and Levi have had an easier time co-parenting in recent years.
Bristol is now pursing a career in real estate and has a clothing brand called Boyhart, which she promotes on Instagram.
