Sarah Palin Opens Up About New Love and Pain of Divorce: 'Earth-Shattering'

Sarah Palin is getting personal about her divorce from ex Todd in 2020 after three decades of marriage — and her newfound relationship with retired New York Rangers player, Ron Duguay.

In a new interview with The New York Post, 58-year-old Palin described the divorce as "earth-shattering."

"It was the most earth-shattering, bizarre thing I could have ever imagined and it kind of remains so," she told the Post.

Palin said in a 2019 interview that she had learned her husband was seeking a divorce via an email from his attorney. The two share five children.

The former couple has seemingly moved on, however, with Palin telling the Post Todd now "spends his time with his girlfriend whom he's had for some time now."

The former Republican vice presidential nominee, meanwhile, has her own new relationship with 64-year-old Duguay, who was previously married to supermodel Kim Alexis.

Palin told the Post that that the relationship was sparked when she called Duguay, an old friend, to seek advice about her defamation trial against The New York Times. (She sued the paper for libl, over a past editorial that falsely linked her political group's statements to a mass shooting.)

While the suit was ultimately dismissed (a federal judge said Palin failed to prove the Times acted with "actual malice"), her relationship with Duguay — which she described to the Post as "safe and comfortable" — blossomed.

Amid the trial, Duguay acted as something of a New York guide, she added. "On my free time, he would walk all over New York and he would show me what he and the Rangers did back in the day, or at least where they did it."

Elsewhere in the interview, Palin told the Post: "Ron is the first person that I've ever even talked to about a lot of this personal stuff. So it's been helpful and refreshing to have Ron to talk to about not just politics, because he's got more common sense in his little finger than the collective in DC, but just about life."

Duguay has also been along for the ride for Palin's latest venture: a run for Congress.

Earlier this month, the ex-Alaska governor announced that she is running for Congress, joining the pool of dozens of candidates hoping to fill the seat held for decades by Rep. Don Young, who died in March.

"Today I'm announcing my candidacy for the U.S. House seat representing Alaska," Palin, who has already earned an early boost in in a very crowded field from former President Donald Trump, said in a statement. "Public service is a calling, and I would be honored to represent the men and women of Alaska in Congress, just as Rep. Young did for 49 years. I realize that I have very big shoes to fill, and I plan to honor Rep. Young's legacy by offering myself up in the name of service to the state he loved and fought for, because I share that passion for Alaska and the United States of America."

A special primary election for her state's only seat in the House of Representatives is scheduled for June 11, followed by a general election on Aug. 16.

Speaking to the Post, Palin said Duguay — who she called "really handsome" — was with her in Alaska while she worked on the campaign: "He came to help me get my yard and property in order because he knows how busy I am with bustling down the campaign."

This is Palin's first bid for office since she left politics in 2009 when she resigned as governor of Alaska; she was previously the mayor of Wasilla. She publicly weighed a run for president in 2012 but decided against it.