Tripp Palin-Johnston's Gramma's constant pain forced her to sell drugs

**WhoAmI** · January 9th, 2009, 09:46 PM

Levi Johnston's Mother Speaks Out

By Lorenzo Benet

Originally posted Thursday January 08, 2009 03:35 PM EST

Speaking for the first time since her Dec. 18 arrest on charges of selling OxyContin, Sherry Johnston – whose son, Levi fathered a son with Sarah Palin's daughter, Bristol, last month – tells PEOPLE she got hooked on the prescription opiate after a hysterectomy eight years ago, which led to seven additional surgeries.

"I was in pain, and I'm still in pain," she says.

Johnston, 42, pleaded not guilty at a Jan. 5 arraignment in Palmer, Alaska. "I have been trying for years to deal with the pain," she says. "I have a medical pump inside me. I'd rather not comment any more but it's not everything that they're saying."

Johnston said has been under a doctor's care and that she was prescribed OxyContin as a painkiller. Still, the hysterectomy and the subsequent complications forced her to give up her career as a hairstylist because she couldn't comfortably stay upright. "I am disabled," she says.

Grandson Lifts Spirits
Lately, Johnston's spirits have been lifted by the birth of Levi and Bristol's son, Tripp Easton Mitchell Johnston, who arrived Dec. 27. When she saw the baby the day he was born, "I started bawling," she says. "I think he looks just like Levi."

As for being a grandmother, she says, "I'm very excited. Absolutely."

Levi, 18, recently left his job in an electrical apprenticeship program in Alaska's North Slope oil fields after a newspaper columnist raised questions about whether he was eligible to participate. Johnston says her son and Bristol, also 18, plan to wed this summer.

Levi Johnston's Mother Speaks Out - Bristol Palin, Sarah Palin : People.com

**buttmunch** · January 9th, 2009, 09:53 PM

Now the wedding is set for summer? Methinks it won't be happening at all.

**WhoAmI** · January 9th, 2009, 09:55 PM

Maybe they'll wait until Tripp can be the ringbearer for Bristol's dream wedding.

**Fluffy** · January 9th, 2009, 09:58 PM

^Why not Trig? Or both?

**kingcap72** · January 9th, 2009, 09:59 PM

Originally Posted by WhoAmI

Maybe they'll wait until Tripp can be the ringbearer for Bristol's dream wedding.

Or until they can find a kid to pass off as Trip.

**WhoAmI** · January 9th, 2009, 10:01 PM

Do you really think Tripp doesn't exist?

**Fluffy** · January 9th, 2009, 10:07 PM

^Not yet. Strangest birth announcement I've EVER read.

**Laurent** · January 9th, 2009, 10:10 PM

Originally Posted by buttmunch

Now the wedding is set for summer? Methinks it won't be happening at all.

Me, either. If it was going to happen at all, I think the Palins would've pushed it thru before the kid was (allegedly) born.

**kingcap72** · January 9th, 2009, 10:15 PM

Originally Posted by WhoAmI

Do you really think Tripp doesn't exist?

I've got my doubts. At this point, I don't put anything by Palin or her family.

**WhoAmI** · January 9th, 2009, 10:16 PM

I am VERY surprised that they didn't force a shotgun wedding before the Convention. The only reasons I can think of are that they already knew about the drug investigation and didn't want to be tied to the Johnston family or that they thought having an underage wedding might be looked at unfavorably by the electorate.

**Laurent** · January 9th, 2009, 10:27 PM

I'm thinking either Bristol or (probably) Levi is flatly refusing to marry.

**buttmunch** · January 10th, 2009, 03:07 AM

I'll go with Palin putting a monkey wrench into any wedding plans. It won't be good for her future if she's got a convicted drug dealer in the family (she barely dodged that bullet with the son in the army).

**ymeman** · January 10th, 2009, 06:09 AM

please lady, keep on talking, do scads of interviews, Sarah Palin is beside herself (not that she doesn't probably do the same pills).

**ymeman** · January 10th, 2009, 06:11 AM

Originally Posted by WhoAmI

Do you really think Tripp doesn't exist?

Holy cow, wouldn't that be something. There were rumors going around that Levi had fathered a child prior to Bristol's but I never heard more about it.

**WhoAmI** · January 10th, 2009, 10:14 AM

I think the kid will come back from the Army and do something stupid. How could he not? He sounds like a total ass (as would be fitting, springing from such parents). Perhaps he was getting his alleged drugs from the Mother of Levi?

I, too, heard about Levi impregnating before Bristol, but don't know if she kept it or supposedly had an abortion. Also, too.