Sarah Palin snorted cocaine off 55 gallon oil drum and had affairs with NBA star and husband's business partner: Sensational claims in new book



Former vice presidential candidate alleged to have snorted cocaine off an oil drum

Said to have had night of passion with basketball star



Husband Todd said to have dissolved snowmobile firm after discovering affair with business partner

Ex-governor of Alaska has yet to announce whether she will run for president next year

Claims: A new book alleges Sarah Palin has taken cocaine in the past and had a six-month affair with a former business partner of her husband Todd

Sarah Palin snorted cocaine off a 55 gallon oil drum while snowmobiling with friends and had illicit affairs with a top NBA star and one of her husband's business partners, a new book sensationally claims.

In revelations which could strike a devastating blow to the controversial politician's hopes of joining the 2012 presidential race, Mrs Palin is said to have taken the class A drug with her husband, while smoking marijuana at college in secret liaisons with one of her professors.

Joe McGinniss's book The Rogue: Searching for the Real Sarah Palin, which is due to be published on September 20, also alleges that the former governor of Alaska is far from the traditional family woman she claims to be.

Mrs Palin, 47, had a one-night stand with Miami Heat basketball star Glen Rice less than a year before she eloped with her husband, the book claims.

She is said to have met the 6ft 8ins player in 1987 when he was playing in a college basketball tournament in Alaska and she worked as a sports reporter for KTUU television.

It is also claimed that she had a six-month affair with Brad Hanson, who ran a snowmobile dealership with her husband Todd - a betrayal which led to Todd dissolving their business.

In a bid to expose Mrs Palin's skeletons, Mr McGinness has studied the former vice presidential candidate for three years and last year even moved in to a home next door in Wasilla, Alaska, to dig some more.

Heat: The book alleges that Palin had a one night stand with basketball star Glen Rice

The author writes that after college Mrs Palin developed a 'fetish' for black men.

She allegedly had a tryst with basketball star Glen Rice in her younger sister Molly's University of Alaska dorm room, while she was dating Todd and just nine months before the couple were married.

Six months: Palin is said to have had an affair with Brad Hanson, one of her husband's colleagues

Mrs Palin got pregnant with Todd and they eloped in August 1988.

Their son Track, the oldest of five, was born eight months later in April 1989.



A friend said Mrs Palin spent the night with the basketball star but could not confirm whether they had sex, according to the National Enquirer.

'I remember Sarah feeling pretty good that she'd been with a black basketball star,' a source told the magazine.

The athlete is said to have confirmed the night of passion in Mr McGinniss's book.

Mr Rice went on to have a huge career playing basketball in the NBA and was a three-timer All-Star.

The book goes on to claim that while married Mrs Palin also had an affair with one of her husband's business partners.

Todd is alleged to have ended all dealings with Brad Hanson after he found out about the secret six-month relationship in 1996.

Both Mrs Palin and Mr Hanson have denied the allegations.

Perhaps most damaging of all could be the suggestion that the supposed traditional all American mother has taken drugs.

Separation?: Todd Palin, seen here with his wife outside their house in Wasilla, Alaska, is said to be filing for a divorce

Headlines: The book, written by Joe McGinniss and released this week, claims Todd (right) dissolved the snowmobile business he ran with Brad Hanson after discovering the affair

Mr McGinness writes that while Mrs Palin attended Mat-Su College she took marijuana with a professor who was also the father of one of her female friends.

Before she was elected governor she is also said to have snorted cocaine with her husband off an overturned oil drum while snowmobiling with friends.

Todd, who was arrested for driving drunk in 1986 used cocaine a lot and was 'on the end of a straw plenty,' according to a long-term associate quoted in the book.

JOE MCGINNISS: AN AUTHOR WITH AN EYE FOR THE EXTREMES

Joe McGinness is a controversial author who has built a career on immersing himself in extreme subjects in order to, in his own words, ‘search for the truth, however elusive… Penetrating the façade of institutions and people in public life’. The writer gained notoriety aged 26 when his first book about how Richard Nixon marketed himself, titled The Selling of the President 1968, became an overnight success – leading to him becoming the youngest living author with a book on the New York Times bestseller list. He has since written a combination of true crime books and political exposés, as well as one non-fiction account of a year exploring Alaska. In 1983, his take on the notorious Jeffrey MacDonald murder case led him being sued, with MacDonald alleging McGinniss made him believe he was on his side before slamming him in the book. The case settled out of court. Even before moving in next door Sarah Palin, McGinness, 68, had tried to get close to her, offering more than $60,000 have dinner with the politician at a charity auction in 2009. He lost to a winning bid of 63,500. When the Palins found out about their new neighbour, Sarah wrote on her Facebook page: ‘We're sure to have a doozey to look forward to with this treasure he's penning.

‘Wonder what kind of material he'll gather while overlooking Piper's bedroom?’

The explosive book goes on to quote those who knew the family growing up, claiming Mrs Palin was a 'bad mum' who would lock herself in her room for hours on end asking not to be disturbed while her children cooked themselves dinner.

Sarah Palin was plucked from obscurity to be the Republican vice presidential candidate in 2008.

The 'pitbull in lipstick' sparked a media storm after accepting the nomination, despite questions over her experience.

But she wowed the U.S. after a barn-storming speech in September 2008 in which she attacked critics for calling her 'small town'.

A former mayor of Wasilla before she became governor of Alaska, Palin stepped down after the Republican defeat in the presidential election.

The mother-of-five has remained tight-lipped on whether she would stand next year, but said she would likely make an announcement at the end of this month.

She has been overshadowed in recent months by Tea Party candidates including Michelle Bachmann.

The Republican, who has now associated herself with the Tea Party movement in the U.S., has been dogged by scandal since being selected as Senator John McCain's running mate in 2007.

There have also been frequent rumours that she is set to divorce her husband Todd, which have always been denied.

And she has faced accusations by the father of her daughter's child, Levi Johnston, that she wanted to keep Bristol's pregnancy a secret and adopt the child herself.

Palin has yet to declare whether she intends to run for election in next year's presidential race.

Joe McGinniss, 68, has written several political books including works on former president Richard Nixon and on Alaska.

Explosive: The book, written by Joe McGinness, right, could halt Palin's 2012 bid before it has started



Next door: A fence in between the Palins' home, right, and neighbour, author Joe McGinness's home, left

But his work on the state sparked vitriol from Palin after he refuted her claims to have secured the construction of a $40billion natural gas pipeline.

The antagonism heightened after he took up the offer of renting a small house next door to Sarah Palin's in Wasilla in summer 2010.

It saw Palin write several posts on her Facebook account and articles in the right-wing press scathing Mr McGinniss's approach to writing the book.