Bristol Palin — and ex-husband — slam their ‘Teen Mom: OG’ season
FOR THOSE who remember Bristol Palin, age 17 and pregnant onstage at the 2008 Republican National Convention and standing next to her then-boyfriend, Levi Johnston, alongside her mother, vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin — well, watching this season of “Teen Mom: OG” was surreal.
Bristol, now 28, was a cast member on the series, a spinoff of the network’s popular reality show “16 & Pregnant.” Johnston (father to her son, Tripp) showed up in multiple episodes, as did Sarah Palin and younger daughters Willow and Piper, who were also onstage at the RNC on the night that kicked off one of the most infamous presidential campaigns in history.
As John McCain lost the presidential race, his running mate and her family were just getting started on their TV careers. Bristol appeared twice on “Dancing With the Stars” and landed her own Lifetime docuseries. So when she debuted on “Teen Mom: OG” Season 7 in October, she was already well-versed in reality TV cameras — which made it all the more surprising when she recently posted a scathing statement about her portrayal on the show, which wrapped up last Monday.
“No matter how bad ‘Teen Mom’ tries to portray my ‘life’ ..... my babies, my family, my close friends, they know the TRUTH. I’m a pretty great mom, work my a-- off, show up, and hustle every day to give my kids a pretty great life,” she wrote on Instagram, adding that producers just wanted “Jerry Springer BS” and drama. “Every week is a continued disappointment with their inaccuracies and false narratives ... Don’t believe everything you see on TV.”
Her ex-husband, Dakota Meyer (they share two young daughters, Sailor and Atlee) was heavily featured on the series, which focused on their bitter divorce that became final late last year. Meyer also made his displeasure with the show known on social media, calling the series “trailer trash” that ignored “what the true struggles of parenting are.”
So, what went wrong? Mostly, it seems like extreme naivete on the parts of Meyer and Palin — whether wilful or genuine, hard to tell — about what an MTV reality show is supposed to be. The whole point is drama. MTV reportedly paid Bristol US$250,000 for the season. (An MTV publicist said Bristol, Dakota and “Teen Mom” producers were unavailable for interviews for this story.) If a network is shelling out that much for name recognition to bring viewers to a reality show, of course they’re going to zero in on the most scandalous details.
This was apparently news to Dakota, who shared many thoughts about the series on his YouTube channel. Last week, one fan asked if he regretted letting the MTV cameras into his home. Dakota, a military veteran and Medal of Honour recipient whose struggle with post-traumatic stress disorder was highlighted on several episodes, said he can’t decide whether he regrets it, as he didn’t enjoy being on the show but has received positive messages from fans.
“Honestly, I’ve never had anybody with ‘Teen Mom’ ever be anything but great to me. Except the editors — they suck,” Dakota said. “Everybody from the crew, I love them, they’re like family to me ... I’ve never had a problem with any of them. Except the editors. I would love to catch them on the street somewhere.”
His editor anger stems from the fact that, again, reality shows are produced for maximum drama — and Dakota and Bristol, who got married in 2016, provided plenty. And the show’s editors spliced together all of it.
The premiere included a disturbing fight between the couple while they were still together, as they talked about the impact of Dakota’s PTSD on their marriage. Bristol accused Dakota of using his anxiety to justify saying cruel things to her, while Dakota said Bristol wasn’t sufficiently supporting him after what he had been through in Afghanistan, where he saw fellow servicemen die in front him.
The next episode found them reaching the conclusion that their marriage wasn’t working, with a heartbreaking scene in which Dakota confessed that, similar to how he felt when he couldn’t help save his teammates in Afghanistan, he felt like a failure in their marriage.
“You’re not a failure at all,” Bristol protested.
“I mean, we’re quitting on our marriage. The only people that are gonna suffer is our kids,” he responded.
“I think that they would suffer even more if we sat here and continued to try to do this relationship. It’s not a good situation,” Bristol said.
Afterward, things turned ugly as they were filmed separately through the majority of the season. Bristol was furious when she returned to their Austin home from Los Angeles (where Tripp competed on “Dancing With the Stars: Juniors”) and Dakota had moved her belongings into a separate bedroom. They fought over custody schedules and money. Bristol was disappointed that Dakota didn’t make more of an effort to stay in touch with Tripp.
While Dakota took their daughters to his native Kentucky to visit his parents, the Palin family often made cameos to support Bristol. One episode turned into a sort of Levi Johnston redemption (he’s had his share of unflattering headlines) during a trip to Alaska. Bristol marvelled that Levi — now married with two daughters — split the cost of Tripp’s plane ticket for the first time.
Bristol and Levi’s now-friendly relationship was a stark contrast to how her relationship with Dakota was portrayed. Their issues culminated in several disastrous conversations in the finale. Dakota accused Bristol of performing for the cameras, and Bristol countered that she wanted to film their interactions so he had accountability. Bristol stormed off after Dakota called her a “compulsive liar.” (Dakota later apologised for that comment, writing on Instagram, “Looking back and seeing my behaviour does not represent the man that I strive to be.”) Clearly, neither Bristol or Dakota felt these scenes represented them fairly, especially because so many centred on them fighting. — WP-Bloomberg