Todd Palin has filed for divorce from Sarah Palin, citing “incompatibility of temperament” and difficulties in living together as husband and wife.
The filing was submitted on September 6 in Anchorage Superior Court, just eight days after their 31st wedding anniversary.
The divorce filing, initially reported by the Anchorage Daily News, uses initials but includes details about the couple’s marriage and the birth date of their 11-year-old son, Trig.
Todd Palin is requesting an equal division of assets and debts and shared custody of Trig, who has Down Syndrome. The Palins, married since 1988, have five children: Track, Trig, Bristol, Willow, and Piper.
Sarah Palin, 55, was elected governor of Alaska in 2006 but resigned in 2009 before completing her term. She also served as John McCain’s running mate in the 2008 presidential election, which was won by Barack Obama and Joe Biden.
Todd Palin, in contrast, has remained out of the spotlight and has not attracted much public attention since Sarah Palin’s rise to national prominence during the 2008 election cycle.
In 2016, Todd Palin was involved in a snowmobile accident resulting in broken ribs, a collapsed lung, a broken shoulder blade, a broken clavicle, and leg injuries, which was one of the few times he made headlines.
Despite his low public profile, Todd played a significant behind-the-scenes role in his wife’s political career.
Emails revealed by MSNBC in 2011 showed he frequently communicated with senior Alaska state officials on various matters, including board appointments, constituent complaints, state jet usage, oil and gas production, and numerous other state issues.
The Palin children have also attracted media attention over the years. Track Palin, the eldest, was sentenced to a year in custody last year after a female acquaintance accused him of assaulting her and restricting her movements.
In December 2017, he was also involved in an incident where he was accused of breaking into his parents’ home and injuring Todd Palin. Track pleaded guilty to a lesser charge in veterans court in June 2018.
Bristol Palin, another daughter, briefly appeared on MTV’s “Teen Mom” franchise but left the show in April.
She stated that the series wasn’t a good fit for her and that leaving it would allow her and her family to be “rebuilt in the right direction” by God.
Bristol Palin was 17 when she became pregnant with her son, Tripp, whom she had with former fiancé Levi Johnston. She later had two daughters, Sailor Grace and Atlee Bay, with her former husband, Dakota Meyer.
In a new interview Sarah Palin described the divorce as “earth-shattering.”
“It was the most earth-shattering, bizarre thing I could have ever imagined and it kind of remains so,” she told.
Todd Palin has reportedly moved on and is now spending time with his girlfriend. Meanwhile, Sarah Palin is in a new relationship with 64-year-old Duguay, who was previously married to supermodel Kim Alexis.
Palin mentioned that her relationship with Duguay began when she reached out to him, an old friend, for advice during her defamation trial against The New York Times.
She had sued the paper for libel over an editorial that falsely connected her political group’s statements to a mass shooting.
