EXCLUSIVE INTERVIEW: Sarah Palin’s Father Says He Didn’t Attack Levi

The drama around Sarah Palin’s family seems to know no boundaries.

The Alaska governor’s father Chuck Heath was quoted by a weekly magazine attacking Levi Johnston, 19, the father of 18-year-old Bristol Palin’s baby. But now Heath, in an exclusive interview with RadarOnline.com, says he never made those comments and has only complimentary things to say about Levi.

“I have a good relationship with Levi,” Heath said Thursday afternoon. “Levi was a good guy, we got along really well, we have our dogs and hunting in common. I encouraged him to go back to school and get his GED.”

Heath was quoted in an earlier published report lambasting Johnston’s recent TV appearances saying: “I don’t agree with what he’s doing right now. It’s not right. He’s broke, so he’s trying to capitalize on this. I wish he’d take some of this money he’s making and buy some diapers with it.” Johnston has publicly complained that the Palins are limiting his access to his baby Tripp with the governor’s daughter.

Now Heath says he never made those remarks and even defends the unemployed teenager. “I didn’t say most of that stuff—that’s a bunch of garbage. I don’t know how they came up with that. The only thing I said—and that was said jokingly, that was kind of in jest about the diapers,” Heath explained to RadarOnline.  As for his feelings on Johnston hitting the media circuit, Heath cuts the teenager some slack. “It’s up to him. He’s a kid. I have no bone to pick with Levi, he’s a good kid.”

Heath’s earlier interview, the one in which he says he was misquoted provoked a sharp response from Johnston’s attorney Rex Butler who said, according to the Associated Press, that Heath was "trying to make the young man look like a deadbeat father, and, you know, they may have a rude awakening one day if he tries to get custody."

Ouch. Misquoted or simply realizing it’s not wise to attack the father of his great grandson, Heath now has no harsh words for Levi and told RadarOnline.com that the youngster is “always welcome” at their home!

(Photo: Zuma Press)