Bristol Palin sues Levi Johnston for custody, he fights to make it public

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Levi Johnston, who was named among the most toxic bachelors of 2009 by CNN’s Showbiz tonight, is proving more than worthy of the label. The 19 year-old is being sued by his ex girlfriend, Bristol Palin, for full custody of their one year-old son, Tripp. Bristol is also seeking child support. Citing concern for Tripp’s privacy, Bristol’s lawyer sought to keep the court proceedings private. Levi’s lawyer of course worked to open them to the public out of concern from “attacks” from grandma Sarah Palin. Levi’s request was granted and we’ll get to hear some of the details as custody is worked out. Levi, who needs to keep up the public’s interest after his sad, disappointing non-nude turn in Playgirl, will surely go on any talkshow or morning news program that will have him in order to talk smack about Sarah and her family. He’s got a formula and he’s sticking to it.

Bristol Palin is demanding full custody of her son and even wants child support from beefcake baby daddy Levi Johnston.

The daughter of vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin accuses her former high school sweetheart of exercising only “sporadic visitation rights” for 1-year-old Tripp, court papers revealed Monday.

Bristol Palin, 18, asked an Alaska judge last month to keep her petition for custody and support secret.

The judge denied that request in a ruling dated Christmas Eve.

Johnston, 19, a hunky one-time high school hockey star, denies in court documents that he has avoided his responsibilities as a father.

He is seeking shared custody of the boy and argued against keeping the proceedings closed.

“I do not feel protected against Sarah Palin in a closed proceeding,” Johnston said in an affidavit. “I hope that if it is open she will stay out of it.”

Bristol Palin is also asking the judge to bar Johnston’s mother from having unsupervised visits with the infant. Sherry Johnston is on home arrest on drug charges.

She also suggests Levi Johnston may have used marijuana, citing a Twitter posting. He denies the reports of drug use and says the Twitter account is a fake one.

Bristol is the eldest daughter of Sarah Palin, who resigned as Alaska governor in July.

[From NY Daily News]

Maybe if Levi wouldn’t talk so much crap about Sarah Palin she would tone down the “attacks.” Don’t get me wrong, I ‘m not team Palin or anything I just think that Levi is as bad as Sarah when it comes to using the press to lash out at perceived enemies. She could be an insufferable would-be mother-in-law, but antagonizing her is just going to get her hackles up.

About six weeks ago Levi predicted that this would happen. He told Entertainment Tonight “By the end of the year we’re gonna go to court for joint custody. I’m just done with it. When there’s a kid involved you ain’t walking away.” There you go, Levi. Use your brief time in the waning spotlight to earn some money for child support.

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48 Responses to “Bristol Palin sues Levi Johnston for custody, he fights to make it public”

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  1. Annabelle says:

    Why doesn’t he WANT it private- doesn’t he care about protecting his son? Oh wait, answered my own question 🙂 He just makes my skin crawl

  2. loca says:

    Ugh. He is THE WORST!

  3. bella says:

    “Beefcake baby daddy”?! LMAO at that one! Has the NY Daily News reporter seen this guy? “Cheese dick baby daddy” is more like it!

    Anyway, this guy is a first-class a$$hole who really needs to learn the same lesson as Jon Gosselin: shut up!

  4. Dee says:

    Wait a minute – I’m team Levi on this one. Sarah Palin has a lot more money than Levi, and who knows what shenanigans she will attempt? Making the proceedings public is his way of protecting himself and his son against Sarah.

  5. diva says:

    This virtually ends Sarah Palins chances at a future political career with a baby daddy airing all their dirty laundry and posing for playboy. I like this guy, I think he is totally milking his 15 minutes of fame and with all Sarah Palins self-righteousness it completely embarasses her. Her speeches about family values sound very hollow with a baby daddy whose mom is a convicted drug dealer on her way to prison and a famewhore who she wanted her daughter to marry.

  6. GatsbyGal says:

    I’ve always felt kinda bad for this kid. And part of me is glad that the Palin family has someone like this going around constantly talking shit about them, because I think they deserve it.

    @Dee – I agree completely, those were my exact thoughts!

  7. irishserra says:

    Levi is trash. But then so are the Palins. Hhmmm…yeah, I don’t care.

  8. Dirty Martini says:

    While I’m no fan of Sarah Palin, I’m Team Palin on this one all the way. Because this isn’t about Sarah….its about Bristol and that baby. This Levi guy is a total D-Bag. Say what you will about the Palins, grandma ain’t exactly been thrown in jail on drug charges, auntie too.

    Put the kid first, folks, and don’t go all political on this one.

  9. e says:

    Dirty Martini if it is not about Sarah then why bring Levi’s family into it?
    And so what if he is a douche…that does not mean he has no right to help raise his child. It should be joint custody. Joint custody has nothing to do with physical custody; it just means that he has an equal say in decisions for the child (education, medical, etc.). Look at all the women who pose for playboy, maxim, etc. The spreads are cheap and trashy but they still deserve to be parents.

  10. CourtneyH says:

    I’m Team Levi on this one. Sarah Palin has pulled unethical crap in the past when she’s had personal vendettas against people (Troopergate, yes?). Levi deserves a fair hearing, and the chances of that are slim when the plaintiff’s mom was governor six months ago.

  11. Leticia says:

    I agree with Dirty’s comments 100%. If you put politics aside, this guy is exploiting his son.

  12. Leticia says:

    I don’t want Sarah Palin for president, ever. But I try to be fair and it makes me sad how biased people are. All political figures are hypocrites. They all say, “do as I say, not as I do.” Yes, Palin is a hypocrite. but so is Al Gore, who has a massive carbon footprint, lives in a massive house, flies private, and profits from the environmental movement. All politicians are hypocrites, not just Palin.

  13. Sumodo says:

    @Gatsby, irishserra, diva, dee — Agreed. This piece of shit may be the only person who can OUT Sarah Palin and keep her from holding public office again. That’s a GOOD thing. Plus, he “dated” Kathy Griffin–all right, she took him to the Teen Choice Awards. Seriously, Levi Johnston holds a few cards he can hold or play. If he plays those cards in public and Sarah Palin ends up on a talk show rather than the Oval Office, that’ll do!

  14. smallwonder2738 says:

    I get what @Dirty Martini and everyone is saying about the exploitation of his son… HOWEVER….

    If you want to keep Sarah out of it, you have to keep his mom (and aunt too) out of it. Just because they made poor choices and have drug charges doesn’t mean that Levi did too. I have a parent and a sister that I am not the most proud of and I would never want to be compared directly to them and have people saying because they are like that that I am too.

    I think this is and should be strictly between the parents, not outside parties and who the relation is and what they’ve done…. I’ve been the child in a similar situation (not quite as public as National news, only local…but it still sucks being the kid.

  15. Dirty Martini says:

    e:

    Because he LIVES with his drug dealing mama, and thats who that baby would be around if he had custody maybe?

    Ya think?

  16. hatsumomo says:

    e: you are sooooo right on.

  17. Iggles says:

    @ Dee:
    Wait a minute – I’m team Levi on this one. Sarah Palin has a lot more money than Levi, and who knows what shenanigans she will attempt? Making the proceedings public is his way of protecting himself and his son against Sarah.

    Exactly!

    Palin is richer than him and has friends in high places. No wonder he wants it to be public! If she tries anything dirty everyone will know. If it’s private he doesn’t have a chance. Not everything is about famewhoring!

    The dude is trying to do what he can to make a life for himself. He’s 19, barely has a high school degree, and he has Palin gunning for him in Alaska — what is he suppose to do? I ain’t mad at him for trying to milk his 15 minutes. This is likely the only “easy” money he’ll make in his life. It’s going to be a long time before he finishes school and/or moves on to a decent paying job.

    I think Bristol is brainwashed. She spoke out one time about abstinence programs being unrealistic — then Momma Palin joined in on the interview and that’s the last we heard of Bristol’s honest opinions..

  18. bella says:

    Don’t want a Palin in office, but want an infant around a druggie even less. Also don’t want the requests of the parents of said infant dragged through the press by either family to try to make themselves look better.

    If you have to bring to light another’s bad deeds to make yourself look better, you are no better than they are; elevate yourself by what you say and how you behave, not at the expense of others.

  19. e says:

    dirty m – joint custody DOES NOT mean physical custody.

  20. Oi says:

    This is unbelievable people. If you take out the family names and the politics and the press and this was a blind case of teenage parents I don’t think anyone would be supporting Levi and him going public with this. As if the public is objective about anything concerning Sarah Palin, and a custody battle should NOT be used as a way to keep her out of office! What the hell??

    Team Bristol. She seems to have a good case without her mother’s help anyway. She also seems to be the only one trying to do the right thing for the baby, and she is getting zero help from anyone. I hope she gets full custody and then some. This should never EVER EVER be in the press, any family any baby.

    Levi has exploited and used the Palin family because of his association wth them and has used his son the same way. and I for one don’t think everything-a lot of things- he says about them is true. He predicted it and he’s going to use it. He doesn’t have any right to drag his son and Bristol into the public eye anymore. He is a pathetic human being and a worse father. And if the Palin’s were crazy like he claims they are then why did he stay with Bristol for so long? Why didn’t he leave the crazy Palin family before the baby and way before the 2008 election? There has to be a reason. Maybe its that he’s a liar?

  21. daisyfly says:

    Blame is a two way (or three way) street when it comes to this particular situation. Levi isn’t exactly Dad of the Year material, but he isn’t the villain in some kind of cheesy B-Movie either. Remember, it wasn’t Levi who went to the media and announced that Bristol was pregnant – that was Grandma Palin. And it wasn’t Levi posing on the cover of People magazine with baby Tripp – that was Bristol. If we’re going to talk about exploiting that poor baby we should not exclude anyone here simply because we may or may not like the other party.

    Also, I understand his need to make the court proceeding public. I’ve seen what money and gag orders can do to a custody hearing and when you add politics into the mix, you’ve got a recipe for disaster.

  22. OXA says:

    Sarah Palin needs to stop messing with him and refusing to allow him to see his kid. Tripp is not her kid and she needs to stay out of it and let the actual parents sort it out.

  23. Pete says:

    What an asshole.

  24. JustV says:

    I have to agree with daisyfly, regardless of politics. If this involved non-(in)famous people, the analogy would have to be that of a super-rich family with numerous, powerful connections and a young man with limited financial and familial resources.
    He may never win Father of the Year or Genius awards, but that doesn’t mean that he doesn’t deserve a fair shake in this hearing. He would never get that if the hearing was private simply because of the opposing party’s money and extensive connections to power brokers in Alaska.

  25. Goddess711 says:

    Good for him! I hope he gets his share of custody and maybe even support from l’il Miss. Perfection. It just had to be an immaculate conception, Levi had nothing to do with it. The whole Palin family makes me puke.
    Fight the good fight, Levi!

  26. Maddie says:

    All of you ranting on Sarah Palin never mentioning the fact that Levi’s mom in going to jail for 5 years.

    If Levi had any dirt on Palin he would have spoken up and the Dems would have back him for the next Prez election.

    If he cared so much for son he would be in college getting his act together instead of trying to milk his 15 minutes that were up this past year.

    The best he can do is a commercial for a nut, get real.

  27. Elise says:

    More snowbilly drama?

    I agree w/ daisyfly. Both parties have plenty of blame to go around. And, Levi is very young; to say he’s a bad dad is really nasty. He needs to grow up, but then, so do ALL of the Palins. Suing your almost son-in-law screams of spite. NO ONE wins in these situations, sadly.

  28. Dirty Martini says:

    e

    Im fully cognizant of the differences between joint and physical custody. Have been through that whole issue myself with the ex. But joint custody also means it is highly likely he will get “visitation” in his own home at least one week night, and every other weekend. Do the math…at least 1/3 of the time the kids hanging with drug dealing grandmama and porno-lite d-bag dad. ANd their low class friends and associates with prison records.

    Nope, no way. I’m not protecting the d-bag’s. Still Team Palin for the sake of the kid.

  29. jess says:

    I’m team levi on this one too. my boyfriend just went through a similar situation about a year ago with his ex. she did it out of spite and brought in all these myspace comments to his friends that were clearly out of context and in jest to try to support her case to take away his son. luckily ($3000 later in lawyer fees) the judge saw right through it.

  30. djork says:

    Levi Johnston is exploiting his son? Oh, please. Sarah Palin exploits ALL her children. Shamelessly. Ceaselessly. Bring it on, Johnston! Expose those hypocrites!

  31. Wresa says:

    “Cheese dick baby daddy” is more like it!”
    ^Lmao! Amen! ^

    I NEVER thought I’d say this, but Team Palin. BRISTOL Palin. 😉

  32. lola says:

    This, guy’s not only a USER but, also, a LOSER! That baby is not your ass! so, Don’t expose your Kid, Moron!

  33. Dee says:

    Honestly, Levi is not a bad man. All right – so he’s not Albert Einstein – but so what. He’s basically a decent guy – he brought pleasure to single women and gay men by posing nude – and he’s not prejudiced against homosexuals. That’s more than I can say for Sarah. What has she done to help humanity, other than eat moose meat?
    He’s trying to protect his interests. Sarah has no compunctions about pulling all the stops out to get her way. He has a right to visit his child.
    With luck, the legal fight will put a permanent end to any aspirations Sarah has for the big time.

  34. JLM says:

    Wow. Whatever happened to “in the best interest of the child?” Do people really think that Tripp is better off with his father? I don’t. And btw, Levi is the one who keeps bringing Sarah Palin into it, not vice versa.

  35. H says:

    Sorry I’m team baby for this one. I would not want that guy to take care of one of my kids overnight. Bristol’s doing all the work. She is sighting sporadic visiting as one of her reasons. A good friend of mine, her ex did the same thing, wanted to see his kid when he was in the mood with zero consideration for her life. She took him to court so that visitation would have to be planned. It’s better for the mom and the kid that way. If I was doing all the work and this douche was showing up whenever the mood suited him, I’d ask for full custody too.

  36. Cherry says:

    Annabelle, Sarah Palin should have a lot more maturity than Levi. She is known to be vindictive, has a long record of being so. Levi should fight for his child. As for wanting to protect his son . . . from what? Publicity? He’s a baby! And if it is publicity, don’t you think Sarah herself is more guilty of that than anyone? She’s the one who started it by parading them all onstage including her own tiny downs sydrome baby for her won political ambitions! Why the double standard. Levi is right . . . with Sarah, you better have everything in the open because she will pull every ugly, mean spirited plug to keep him from his child.

  37. Madisyn says:

    I’m split down the middle. On Bristol’s side I agree, he can’t just show up whenever the mood strikes him, disrupting her life in the process. He really wants joint custody, then he’ll have to follow the courts schedule. Be careful what you wish for Levi!

    On Levi’s side I agree he needs the proceedings public because I wouldn’t trust Sarah Palin, who has numerous connections and money. Like another poster commented, remember Troopergate!

  38. lola says:

    yeah,the kid has brains coz the palin s got to much connections and can take over his son.

    and yeah he should use the theyre name to make more money for him and his son s future.
    his the 1 tichet to his son s,his familly s future.

    good luck kid!

  39. Eden says:

    Ok, first…what mother wouldn’t speak out and protect her children? Second, Sarah Palin is NO LONGER a political official. And third to all those people who HATE Sarah Palin….why? Do you know her?

    Do you know her political record? I do!!!

    First, when McCain announced her as his running mate I initially thought “stupid mistake”. But then I spent hours doing research on her career as city council, mayor & governor and I was completely surprised!

    She took on the Big Oil companies despite Bush & Cheney warning her twice to back off. She revamped the state oil tax to include a net profits tax which gave Alaska a budget surplus in the billions – 10 BILLION! She gave the money back to the community by funding various programs benefitting the citizens & sent each Alaskan a $1200 check. She also abolished the gasoline tax for one year.

    She refused a $25,000 pay increase as governor & decreased her salary 10% as mayor. She also cut property tax by 70%, sold the governors private jet, fired the chef to cook her own meals, refused private transportation to drive herself & declined private security detail.

    She also crossed party lines assisting the Democrats in creating a state Climate Control Cabinet. She appointed an Energy Coordinator to activate an energy plan that included a Renewable Energy Fund for alternative projects – wind, hydro, geothermal, etc.

    Anyway, like I said, I spent hours researching who she is and what she stands for. She actually is very intelligent and has no problem standing up to Republicans if she disagrees with them.

  40. daisyfly says:

    Eden, I’m not a fan of Sarah Palin, but even if I were, I wouldn’t spread lies about her the way you just did, but I’ll simply blame that on your “hours” of research.

    Let’s start at the top, shall we? She “revamped” the tax? The residents of Alaska have been receiving annual checks from that “revamped” tax for years. It’s fluctuated based on market value for fuel. The record amount she’s quoted as providing is due SOLELY to the high cost of crude. It’s not because of anything she “did”. As for abolishing the gas tax, it was nullified by the high costs of gas. Win? I think not.

    She refused a recommended $25k increase in her annual salary and decreased it by 10%? She was getting paid $125,000 a year – and charged the state $16k in per diem for days she worked In. Her. Home. Do the math there. That’s over 10%, is it not? Yes, a real fiscal conservative.

    She cut property tax by 70%? In Wasilla, sure. Statewide? Not a chance. Of course, after she cut taxes in Wasilla, she had to raise sales taxes and left the small town over $20 million dollars in debt. There’s that fiscal conservatism again.

    If you want to laud Sarah Palin, go right ahead. She overcame her own limitations to become one of the most recognized names in the country.

    But then again, so did Paris Hilton.

  41. oh_mr_grey says:

    Before August 2008, I was blissfully unaware that Sarah Palin, Bristol Palin and Levi Johnston existed.

    Frak you, John McCain!

  42. Eden says:

    Hey DAISYFLY: First, let me give you an educational BEAT-DOWN! Alaska is the only state that does not collect state sales tax or levy an individual income tax. Are you stupid or did you miss that day in class? Second, I’m not done with you, yet. If you can, please read the paragraphs below. I attached the links if you care to educate yourself further. BTW what year did you get your GED??? LMAO

    Palin lived in Juneau during the legislative session and lived in Wasilla and worked out of offices in Anchorage the rest of the year. Since the office in Anchorage is far from Juneau, while she worked there, state officials said she was permitted to claim a $58 per diem travel allowance, which she took (a total of $16,951), and to reimbursement for hotels, which she did not, choosing instead to drive about 50 miles to her home in Wasilla.

    In December 2008, an Alaska state commission recommended increasing the GOVERNOR’S annual salary from $125,000 to $150,000. Palin stated that she would not accept the pay raise. In response, the commission dropped the recommendation. As MAYOR she created the position of city administrator, and reduced her own $68,000 salary by 10%, although by mid-1998 this was reversed by the city council.

    During her first year in office as Mayor, Palin kept a jar with the names of Wasilla residents on her desk. Once a week, she pulled a name from it and picked up the phone; she would ask: “How’s the city doing?”Using income generated by a 2% sales tax that was enacted before she was elected to the city council, Palin cut property taxes by 75% and eliminated personal property and business inventory taxes.

    While there is no sales tax or income tax in Alaska, state revenues doubled to $10 billion in 2008. For the 2009 budget, Palin gave a list of 31 proposed federal earmarks or requests for funding, totaling $197 million, to Alaska Senator Ted Stevens. Palin’s decreasing support for federal funding has been a leading source of friction between herself and the state’s congressional delegation; Palin has requested less in federal funding each year than her predecessor Frank Murkowski requested in his last year.

    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sarah_Palin
    http://hubpages.com/hub/Sarah-Palins-Accomplishments

  43. Eden says:

    Oh and DAISYFLY – I almost forgot to mention this bit of information. I believe in educating one idiot at a time and today is your LUCKY DAY!!! Please read on….

    The Alaska Legislature adopted a plan proposed by Palin in 2007 (Alaska’s Clear and Equitable Share) that raised the tax that oil companies have to pay on their profits from a base rate of 22.5 percent to 25 percent. Oil companies, including ExxonMobil, opposed the tax hike, claiming it would affect their project investments. The revenue generated from the tax increase, which significantly added to the state’s budget surplus, allowed Palin’s administration to issue a one time “resource rebate” of $1,200 to eligible state residents in 2008 to help with increasing energy prices. The rebate came IN ADDITION to the annual dividend check ($2,069 in 2008) that residents receive as their part of the state’s oil wealth.

  44. daisyfly says:

    Eden, I’m glad you’ve proven just how far your “hours” of research have gone. Copying and pasting from Wikipedia is a great trick, but when you’re omitting and ignoring parts of not only what I’ve written, but what Wikipedia also confirms, you calling me an idiot only proves that projection on the internet is far more obvious than IRL.

    However, since you insist, let me start by pointing out that while you keep insisting that Alaska doesn’t have a STATE sales tax, the individual COUNTIES (i.e. local level) do (you even posted as much) – counties like Wasilla, where she was Mayor. She ran them into the ground – $20mil in debt WITH that lovely higher sales tax she called people about. Guess you didn’t read that part, did you? Of course not.

    Let’s go even further into the “tax” you like to laud so much. It was a one time thing that she touts as one of her successes, but let’s make sure we get a good idea as to what that tax means, shall we?

    The crude that is pumped from Alaska gets taxed for about 1/3 of its value before it leaves the state to refineries. This tax gets passed on to consumers. Now, while it might have seemed all sweet and wonderful to Alaskans who got that one-time $1200 check, this was during the boon year for crude, when gas was as much as $5 a gallon and over $120 a barrel respectively, those elsewhere who paid for that fuel weren’t exactly facing such a sweet deal.

    Now that gas has fallen to levels of $2 a gallon/$70 a barrel, Alaska is facing a pretty big deficit. Of course, that doesn’t mean much to Alaskans since they receive more federal money per citizen than any other state in the nation. In 2008 it was over $13k PER CITIZEN. That makes Alaska the largest welfare state in the nation. No statewide sales tax, no statewide income tax works – because the rest of us pay for it – and Sarah Palin said she was a “fiscal conservative”…with other people’s money.

    Oh, and I forgot to mention that whole “selling of the plane” story. She tried to sell that plane on ebay but failed. The plane that cost $2.7 million to purchase? Sold for $2.1. Add on the private broker’s fees and she actually COST the state money. Again, love that fiscal conservatism!

    Eden, I don’t think you’re dumb. Truly I don’t. You’re arrogant, ignorant, and stubborn. You love Sarah Palin so much that you won’t see the forest for the trees, and I have to admire that. But you’re not dumb.

    I’d never insult dumb people that way.

  45. daisyfly says:

    Oh hey, I also forgot to mention the story of the “chef” she “fired”. She didn’t. She simply had her moved to another location in another position. But please, tell me how your “hours” of research have somehow proven that 1 + 1 = blue.

  46. JazzLover says:

    OMG Daisyfly get a life! You are a complete Wack-Job! Team EDEN!

  47. Kylie says:

    If Time Magazine had a ‘Loser of the Year’ issue, Levi Johnston would be on the cover.

  48. WTF?!? says:

    A whorey teenage girl for a mom, a slacker former star athlete for a dad, and two extreme nutbags for grandmas. This kid doesn’t stand a chance.