Once upon a time, almost nobody knew who Sarah Palin was…after all, she was Alaska’s governor, and most people don’t keep track of every state’s top politician. But the late John McCain plucked Palin out of relative obscurity to serve as his running mate during the 2008 presidential election.
McCain lost that election, leading to a historic victory by Barack Obama, the man who became America’s first Black president. Meanwhile, Palin had become a famous celebrity on top of being an iconic Republican politician. And even though she has largely faded from the public eye, she is still using her political experience and her celebrity status in order to make waves in some very surprising ways.
How surprising are we talking? Keep reading to discover where Sarah Palin is now!
Her political career made history
As mentioned before, most people didn’t know who Sarah Palin was before John McCain selected her as his presidential running mate. However, even before he did that, Palin effectively made political history by becoming the first female governor of Alaska. This was one of the reasons McCain chose her, of course: to show voters that they could help Palin make history again by voting her in as America’s first female vice president.
Because she lost the election, Kamala Harris would later receive the honor of becoming America’s first female VP. But Palin remained a major pop culture figure after McCain’s 2008 in large part thanks to her good looks: she was, after all, a former beauty queen, and many Americans were enamored by her toned legs and easy smile.
That beauty would later help Palin find some jobs outside of politics. Which is a good thing, because it didn’t take long for her political career to go sideways.
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The political career goes sideways
Running for president or even vice president is always a major gamble for a politician. If you win, you become one of the most powerful people in the world…if you lose, though, you may have major trouble getting your old job back. And that’s exactly what happened to Sarah Palin after John McCain lost the 2008 election to Barack Obama.
In 2009, Palin stepped down as Alaska’s governor. She tried to re-enter politics in 2022 by running for Congress, but she lost to Democratic contender Mary Peltola. She ran again and ended up losing again to the same woman. Later, Palin implied she should be Donald Trump’s 2024 running mate, but Trump ended up choosing JD Vance instead.
Just like that, every door back into politics slammed closed on Sarah Palin. And if that’s not bad enough, she also experienced a personal tragedy during the most stressful time in recent memory!
Divorcing during the pandemic
Previously, Sarah Palin was married to Todd Palin, but the two divorced in 2020 amid the COVID-19 pandemic. Obviously, there’s no time that’s good to get divorced, but Palin had to deal with this relationship drama back when everyone thought the world was about to end. And if that wasn’t bad enough, she found out about the divorce in the most awkward possible way.
You see, her husband didn’t tell her that he wanted a divorce. Instead, he had his lawyer send an email that blindsided Sarah Palin. She later described the divorce as “earth-shattering.” And while she eventually moved on (she is currently dating ice hockey legend Ron Duguay), she was devastated to lose the high school sweetheart she had been married to since 1988. The two have five children together, a factor that made the divorce even worse
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The shocking ways Sarah Palin makes money
Hearing about Sarah Palin leaving the governorship and then failing to land any other political positions leads to an obvious question: how the heck is she making money? After all, she was once one of the highest-paid people in the entirety of Alaska, but she hasn’t held a political office since 2009. How does she keep the lights on? As it turns out, through some very unexpected ways!
First, she appeared on The Masked Singer in 2020 and was later revealed to be the Bear. She said at the time that she was mostly driven by the desire to show her “haters” that she was capable of doing “whatever I want,” but we can only assume she was also driven by the need for a regular paycheck. Later, she parlayed her remaining celebrity status into appearances on Cameo, the site where you can pay to receive customized video messages from famous celebs. Now, she makes bank (over $200,000 in 2021 alone) on Cameo while also pocketing money here and there from speaking engagements and, of course, her marketing company (Pie Spy LLC).
Making mad bank just to sit back and record videos for your adoring fans? Forget being vice president, this job looks way more fun!