He owes $38,500 in child support to Bristol Palin, hasn't seen his first son Tripp in four months, and has a second baby on the way with girlfriend Sunny Oglesby.
Yet Levi Johnston does not consider himself a deadbeat dad.
'No, and I never will be,' he told The Insider’s Brook Anderson earlier today.
The 21-year-old Alaskan insists it's not his fault that he has not seen three-year-old Tripp, because the Palin family prevents visits.
'I love Tripp more than anything and he is my son but I don't feel like a dad to him. Not by choice …hopefully one day I can be,' he said.
When Bristol heard about the pregnancy, she was very upset and told In Touch her ex has always been free to see Tripp.
'I wish Levi would be like, "Hey Bristol, can I have Tripp for the weekend?" I would be so willing and glad to do that. He continues to lie,' the 21-year-old mother said.
According to Bristol, Levi -- who is currently unemployed -- once went an entire year without seeing Tripp.
Sarah and Todd Palin have even spoken to TMZ and come to their daughter's defense.
'We have never hidden Tripp from Levi or discouraged Levi from spending time with him,' the Palin's said in a statement.
'We're disappointed that he continues to spread falsehoods to garner media attention.'
Levi and his schoolteacher girlfriend even say they hope Tripp will be be a big brother to the child.
'I'm tired of people thinking that my boyfriend's a bad father especially now that I'm having his baby,' Sunny told the Insider. 'I don't want people thinking that about him.'
The 20-year-old blonde continued to come to her man's defense: 'It's really sad, his image, because it's pretty much the complete opposite of how he is in real life. He's an awesome dad. And he tries to get Tripp all the time.'
Bristol's lawyer told TMZ that Levi hasn't made a child support payment since June 2010.
Levi is definitely aware that he is required to pay $1,750 a month, as he mentioned it on his Twitter during the Superbowl.
He wrote in February, 'patriots !"! come on baby !!! i got 2500 on your ass !! thats this month child support interest alone !!'
The new couple accidentally got pregnant when they forgot to bring birth control pills with them on a trip to their cabin.
'There was a time we went to the cabin and forgot the birth control pills and, you know, about a month later we found out we were having a baby,' Levi tells The Insider’s Brook Anderson in a new interview.
Levi believes that former Vice Presidential candidate Sarah Palin is ruining his reputation as a father with Bristol.
'Bristol looks up to her and that's a family and, you know I listen to my family, so I'm sure she does have some part of it, yeah,' he explained.
Sunny thinks people believe the Palin's over Levi because they are more famous.
'You know it's Sarah Palin and she has a lot of fans so everyone believes that,' she says, 'and Levi really doesn't have a chance against them.'
'Levi is a stranger to Tripp. He doesn't understand that Levi is his dad,' Bristol admitted.
Palin goes on to say she is worried about the effect Johnston's affinity for getting young women pregnant will have on Tripp.
'I don't want him to go to elementary school with 10 half siblings,' she said. 'That would really affect him.'
This comment comes after Palin claimed Tripp may already have a half brother in her book Not Afraid of Life: My Journey So Far.
In the memoir she alleges that Johnson cheated on her constantly and they broke up when he got another girl pregnant.
'I thought he had learned his lesson the first time.'
She continued: 'I hope this child is raised with two parents. He needs to step up to the plate and be there.'
No comments:
Post a Comment