Sarah Palin was crushed after her 27-year role model marriage ended by email, now she’s found love again

Sarah Palin burst onto the national stage in 2008 when John McCain chose the little-known Alaska governor as his running mate. With her folksy confidence and outsider appeal, she became impossible to ignore—then gradually stepped back into a life shaped more by personal upheaval than politics.

Born in Sandpoint, Idaho, and raised in Wasilla, Alaska, Palin was a standout athlete in high school, especially in basketball. She met her future husband, Todd, at a game, and in 1988 the young couple eloped at a courthouse, recruiting witnesses from a nearby retirement home because they couldn’t afford a wedding.