Bristol Palin: 'My teen years were cut short when I became a mum'

Bristol Palin has said her teenage years were "cut short" when she became pregnant at the age of 17.

Sarah Palin's daughter told HLN's Dr Drew that although she loves her son Tripp, his arrival meant she wasn't able to experience certain things in life.

"I don't think anything can show how hard it is to be a teen mum," she told Dr Drew Pinsky. "It's not easy being a teen mum. The girls from Teen Mom and 16 and Pregnant will say that. They need to just wait and look at their lives and think before they take actions."

Pinsky then asked what Palin would say to people who point out that she seems to be doing well despite becoming a mother at an early age.

"I tell those people that my teenage years were cut completely short," she replied. "I was on the fast track to adulthood in an instance because of that one decision. Tripp is the love of my life and everything to me but do I wish he had a dad who was involved in his life? Absolutely. Do I wish I had an education and a real career path? Absolutely."

Palin welcomed son Tripp with then-boyfriend Levi Johnston in December 2008, although the couple split shortly after his birth.

They later reunited and announced their engagement through a magazine in July 2010, before separating again the following month.

Palin told Pinsky that announcing their engagement in the magazine was her "biggest regret" in life, saying that she pulled the plug for good after Johnston told her another woman was claiming to be pregnant with his child.

Palin's autobiography Not Afraid Of My Life: My Journey So Far is available now.

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Watch Bristol Palin discussing teen pregnancy with Dr Drew Pinsky below: