Bristol Palin defies her mum on Fox News

Tuesday, February 17. Despite her mother's adamant claims that total abstinence is a better idea than funding sex education in schools, Bristol Palin (pictured) claimed last night that abstinence is "not realistic at all" because even in Alaska, it's not the 19th century anymore.

The 18-year-old daughter of Governor Sarah Palin gave birth in December though she was not yet married or engaged to the father, Levi Johnston, a former classmate at the high school they both dropped out of. The pregnancy divided the religious right in America who supported the decision not to have an abortion but were dismayed at the news that Tripp Palin would be born out of wedlock.

Appearing on Fox News in an interview with Greta Van Susteren, a good friend to the Palin brood, a clearly embarrassed Bristol said she did not want to get into the philosophical reasoning behind her decision not to use contraception, but added: "I think abstinence is, like…like the, I don't know how to put it, like… the main… everyone should be abstinent but that's not realistic at all."

Elsewhere, Esquire magazine has released its full interview with the Alaskan Governor in which she disclosed the advice she gave to her eldest daughter. "What I've been telling Bristol, before she gets married, is, Bristol, there are definitely gonna be tough parts in marriage. You have to look at those tough times and remember that you have essentially a business contract with this person," says Palin. "You've signed an agreement: You're going to be together."

Palin also shares the secrets of her Alaskan chilli: "You gotta have good mooseburger in there," she reveals. "I don't know if you can get moose commercially in New York. You'd have to come up here and visit me in my home, and I'll prepare it for ya."

And as for those who think the 44-year-old mother of five is "hot", Palin says "If only people could see me as I come in from a run early in the morning without a trough full of makeup on, I think that they'd have a different opinion."

FIRST POSTED FEBRUARY 17, 2009