Sarah Palin Never Told Bristol About the 'Birds and the Bees'

Among the more compelling bits of background information teen mom Bristol Palin reveals about her famous family in the latest issue of Harper's Bazaar is the fact neither of her parents, Todd and Sarah Palin, ever gave her the "sex talk."

"It's not like we all sat down and were like, 'Alright, here's the birds and the bees,'" Palin told the magazine. "Truly, my parents just assumed that I wasn't doing anything. And it was a shock for us all."

Bristol's pregnancy by then-boyfriend Levi Johnston caused a sensation on the presidential campaign trail back in 2008, especially since she was only 17 years old at the time and her mom, Sarah Palin, is such a vocal supporter of abstinence only education and is against premarital sex.

Since then, Bristol has given birth to a son, Tripp, broken up with Levi, and taken up her own career as a paid public speaker, earning between $15,000 and $30,000 per event, according to Radar Online. Her selected speech topics: Abstinence and teen pregnancy.

Studies are mixed on whether abstinence-only education or comprehensive sex education works better at preventing teen pregnancy, with the latest high-profile results favoring abstinence only, to much hype and hand-wringing. What most experts on both sides of that issue agree on, however, is that parents should talk to their children about the risks of sexual activity sooner rather than later.