A first-person account. Chase Chrisley has been struggling with the reality his parents, Todd and Julie Chrisley, are currently facing in prison.
The reality star, 26, broke down how “heartbreaking” it has been for his family while Todd, 54, and Julie, 50, serve their respective sentences.
“[My sister] Savannah [Chrisley] will go see my dad, I’ll go see my mom. We’ll rotate, and Savannah will normally take the kids [Grayson and Chloe] down with her,” Chase explained on the “Chasin’ Birdies” podcast on Thursday, May 11. “But it’s tough, man. I mean, our family loves really, really hard, so when you love somebody as much as we love each other, it’s definitely very difficult to see your loved ones in a situation like that.”
The Growing Up Chrisley alum noted that he and Savannah, 25, “never miss a weekend” visiting Todd in Florida and Julie in Kentucky.
“Our system’s so broken, but that’s not new. I mean, there’s so many other people that are wrongly convicted that are sitting in prison and just don’t have the resources to fight,” he continued. “That’s what my sister and I are kind of working on, is the prison reform and trying to help people with their re-entry whenever they get out, help them find jobs, give them some stability. But yeah, man it’s tough seeing them In there.”
According to Chase, his parents aren’t living under the best conditions at their individual prisons. “Their conditions are just so s—tty, too. Like, everybody acts like my dad is in some country club and that’s not the case at all,” the TV personality noted. “I mean, they got like black mold [where my dad is], and my mom’s place is even worse. I mean, she doesn’t even have air conditioning. They’re in a camp. It’s better than, like, being behind a wall.”
Todd and Julie were first indicted in 2019 on charges of tax evasion, bank and wire fraud and conspiracy. After being found guilty in June 2022, the real estate mogul was sentenced to 12 years in prison while his wife received a seven-year sentence.
Before turning themselves in, the couple reflected on the challenges they were prepared to face behind bars.
“I think that that’s why I’m in a better place with it, because I know that this is not my final destination,” Todd detailed during a prerecorded January episode of “Chrisley Confessions” podcast, which was posted after he arrived in prison. “I know that this may be my future for a minute, but I also have faith that the judicial system is going to turn it around. I also have faith that the appellate court is going to see this for what it is.”
He concluded: “The legal system, which we’ve never been a part of until now, is a very complex system that we just are still learning and we don’t know, which is why we have all these attorneys that work for us. You just have to hope and pray to God that when one division of the judicial system fails, that the next level, which is the appellate court, sees the mistakes and tries to correct those mistakes.”
Todd and Julie’s children have since offered glimpses into how they have been adjusting. Savannah, for her part, recently addressed how gaining custody of brother Grayson, 16, and niece Chloe, 10, shifted the expectations she had for her personal life.
“I’m in that anger part of grief right now. I’m just angry at everything. And also, after taking on the kids. I’m like, ‘OK. Do I actually want kids? Do I? You know, seeing how much this whole thing has affected us?'” she said during the Wednesday, May 3, episode of her “Unlocked” podcast. “I don’t want anyone to take what I said out of context at all. I freaking love these two kids more than life itself. They are my everything. We have so much fun together. I try to have as much fun as possible.”
The podcast host admitted there were days where she struggles with her new normal. “I try to be a good, like, adult figure in their life, but it’s really hard being 25 and having two kids and trying to figure out what’s best for them because normally you get to grow — like you get to grow from one to two to three to four,” she concluded. “Like, you get to grow through the ages. Now, I’m just being, like, thrown into it.”
