In February, Bristol Palin, whose teenage pregnancy shocked her mother former Alaska governor and vice-presidential candidate Sarah Palin as well as the nation, told a Fox News anchor that she and Levi Johnston, the father of her child, planned to get married. By March, the teenage couple had broken up. A month later, Johnston was on national television, telling Tyra Banks that the elder Palin probably knew the teens were having sex and that he had lived in the Palin home leading up to his son's birth. The Palins quickly released a statement saying that Johnston and his family were "engaging in flat-out lies, gross exaggeration, and even distortion" of his relationship with Bristol. The squabbling continued, along with Levi's star turn. His latest publicity: a photo shoot for Playgirl, which Sarah Palin dubbed "aspiring porn." On Oprah in mid-November, Palin criticized Johnston for not spending more time with his child and again said he had never lived with her daughter. Palin said the boy was still welcome to spend Thanksgiving with her family. Johnston told a reporter that it was a "nice gesture, but she didn't mean it."
The Top 10 Everything of 2009
- Top 10 Albums
- Top 10 Animal Stories
- Top 10 Apologies
- Top 10 Art Exhibitions
- Top 10 Awkward Moments
- Top 10 Best Business Deals
- Top 10 Breakups
- Top 10 Buzzwords
- Top 10 Children's Books
- Top 10 Crime Stories
- Top 10 Editorial Cartoons
- Top 10 Facebook Stories
- Top 10 Fashion Faux Pas
- Top 10 Fashion Moments
- Top 10 Feuds
- Top 10 Fiction Books
- Top 10 Fleeting Celebrities
- Top 10 Gadgets
- Top 10 Green Ideas
- Top 10 Heroes
- Top 10 iPhone Apps
- Top 10 Late-Night Jokes
- Top 10 Magazine Covers
- Top 10 Medical Breakthroughs
- Top 10 Movie Performances
- Top 10 Movies
- Top 10 New Species
- Top 10 News Stories
- Top 10 Nonfiction Books
- Top 10 Oddball News Stories
- Top 10 Pariahs
- Top 10 Pictures of the Year
- Top 10 Plays and Musicals
- Top 10 Political Gaffes
- Top 10 Quotes
- Top 10 Religion Stories
- Top 10 Scandals
- Top 10 Scientific Discoveries
- Top 10 Songs
- Top 10 Sports Moments
- Top 10 T-Shirt-Worthy Slogans
- Top 10 TV Ads
- Top 10 TV Episodes
- Top 10 TV Series
- Top 10 Tweets
- Top 10 Underreported Stories
- Top 10 Untruths
- Top 10 Video Games
- Top 10 Viral Videos
- Top 10 Worst Biz Deals
TIME charts the highs and lows of the past year in 50 wide-ranging lists