Tuesday, February 17, 2009

Bristol Palin Channels Lance Loud

In an eerie echo of a classic reality show of the 1970s, Sarah Palin's daughter Bristol is going public on Fox News to tell teenagers that pregnancy is "not glamorous."

In the groundbreaking PBS series, "An American Family," young Lance Loud came out of the closet as his mother told his father on camera that she wanted a divorce. The Palins started down their road to erasing the line between public and private by announcing Bristol's condition when the governor was chosen as the Republican VP candidate and by including the father-to-be in family photos at the convention.

Now the 18-year-old mother is telling Fox News' Greta Van Susteren, "It's just, like, I'm not living for myself anymore. It's, like, for another person, so it's different. And just you're up all night. And it's not glamorous at all. Like, your whole priorities change after having a baby."

The interview was her own idea, Bristol Palin says, and she told her parent about it the day before the taping. She wanted to tell her story to help others her age: "I'd love to [be] an advocate to prevent teen pregnancy because it's not, like, a situation that you would want to strive for, I guess."

Gov. Palin makes a cameo appearance at the end of the interview. "Not the most ideal situation, certainly you make the most of it," she observes, noting that her daughter is a "strong and bold woman, and she is an amazing mom. And this little baby is very lucky to have her as a mama. He's going to be just fine."

Politics aside, the Palin family is adding a new dimension to the era of the TV reality show and making it difficult for even hardened cynics not to sympathize with the outspoken young mother and wish her more privacy for the future.

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