Savannah Chrisley opens up about her life after her parents imprisonment
Savannah Chrisley opens up about her life after her parents imprisonment
Savannah Chrisley is doing everything
she can to get her parents out of prison.
“How are you feeling going into this?”
“You know what? Feeling hopeful, prayerful.
That’s all that we can do.”
The reality show star arrived at the
federal courthouse in Atlanta today,
her family and new boyfriend by her side
to plead her parents’ case.
“Just fighting for my parents is what this
is all about, and I’m just hopeful and
prayerful that these judges have the
hearts and the minds to see what’s
really going on.”
Savannah’s parents are Todd and Julie Chrisley,
the once high-flying couple of the reality show
Chrisley Knows Best.
“We’re not perfect, but perfect should be
something you should strive to be.”
But now they’re serving stiff prison
sentences after being convicted of
multiple counts of defrauding banks and
evading taxes.
“Are you f****d up?”
“They’re okay. Yeah, they try to make
the best of it, but it’s rough.”
During the 30-minute hearing, the
Chrisley family and their attorney argued
that Todd and Julie deserve a new trial.
“The primary issue that we were arguing
about today is the question of whether
one of the witnesses testified falsely,
whether the prosecution had any knowledge
of that. It was a step to getting my
parents home because I believe in law and
order. I believe that we should have a
system that holds people accountable,
but I also believe that the government
should be held accountable as well.”
A former Miss Tennessee Teen USA,
it’s going to be an exciting year.
“Please take your first walk. Look,
you’re in a party!”
“Savannah, this ain’t no damn party;
it’s a car wash!”
Savannah came of age on reality TV
as a precocious adolescent.
“Turn the AR to be emerged!”
“I’m going to punch you in your face
is what’s going to happen.”
And now, at 26 years old, she’s trying
to hold her family together,
taking her siblings to visit their
parents in prison.
“We just switch off between Mom and Dad.”
“And so what are those visits like?”
“We go, we sit, we laugh, we walk.
We just try to have a little bit of normalcy.”
Savannah is now the legal guardian
for her teenage brother Grayson
and 11-year-old niece Khloe,
whom her parents were raising.
“We have run into an issue:
She wants me to wear deodorant,
so I moved out at 17.”
They all lived together at her home in
Nashville, which she says she bought
with her own reality show earnings.
“Was there ever any doubt that you would
raise Grayson and Chloe?”
“I think it was just an unspoken thing
that we just knew.”
“What’s life been like carrying on
without them? I mean, you’ve had to
have holidays without them.”
“That was the hardest part—was at
Christmas, you know, asking the kids
like any other parent does, like
‘What do you want for Christmas?’
And they look at you and say,
‘I don’t want anything, like,
I can’t have what I want.’
And you’re like, got it. You can’t
fill a hole in their heart.”
Through it all, Savannah is staying
grounded with the help of loved ones.
After losing her former fiancé in
a motorcycle crash last year,
she found new love in Robert Shyer,
who was with her in court today.
“Shyer’s former wife of 13 years stands
charged with plotting to murder him
in the Bahamas. She pled not guilty
and maintains her innocence.
She is now out on bail.”
“Your life seems so unreal in so many ways,
right? I mean, the way you grew up,
what happened to your parents, and
then you date a guy whose wife is
charged with trying to kill him.
How do you talk to the young people
in your life about that?”
“I think, you know, for me, that is
Robert’s situation. I never want to be
the cause of his children’s hurt ever.
So when it comes to their mother,
they have a mother, and I hope that
she can show up for them, and
the legal course just has to run its course.”
She reached out to him on social media
after hearing about the alleged plot.
“Is it true that you slipped into his DMs?”
“I did. I love me some social media,
what can I say?”
“When just his whole world kind of
started changing, I just reached out
and was like, ‘Hey, I know how it feels
to be in the public eye and not
for what you want to be in the public eye for.’”
Savannah has been in the public eye
since 2014 when Chrisley Knows Best debuted.
It eventually became one of the USA
Network’s most successful shows,
running for 10 seasons.
“You going to really wash all that?
You’re going to wash your drawers
with your shirt that you pull over
your head?”
“I’ve never done laundry; I don’t
know what you want to do.”
Divorce, family drama—the lifeblood of
the show.
“Nothing about life is fair.”
The Chrisleys projecting a squeaky
clean image amidst a life of luxury.
“Welcome to Mr. Chrisley’s debate class:
Prada is better than Gucci,
Gucci’s better than Prada!”
“I don’t even know what Prada is!”
“Are you kidding me right now?”
But then it all came crashing down in 2019.
Todd and Julie were indicted on 12 counts
of bank and wire fraud, tax evasion,
and conspiracy. Federal prosecutors
said the Chrisleys had built an empire
based on the lie that their wealth came
from dedication and hard work,
calling them career swindlers.
“They spent that money on luxury cars,
designer clothes, real estate, and travel
and used new fraudulent loans to pay
back old ones. And as the reality
stars were starting to shine,
prosecutors say the Chrisleys failed
to file or pay taxes from 2013 to 2016.”
“We have been canceled; our show was canceled.
Everyone turned their backs,
and you really can’t get much more
canceled than that.”
Todd sounding defiant on an episode
of his podcast, Chrisley Confessions:
“If anyone even knew truly what has
gone on in our life, the things that
have happened and how we still have
to keep fighting.”
“And then they want to sit and talk
about, you know, ‘Go pay your taxes!’
Dude, shut up! I’ve paid more taxes
than you’ve ever earned.”
In 2022, after nearly a three-week trial,
Todd was sentenced to 12 years in prison
and Julie to seven.
“What do you say to folks who might think
they deserve to serve time?”
“We’re not tough on tough crime;
we’re tough on white-collar crime.
Money means more than a human life
at the place we’re at right now.
If you say someone stole $17 million,
what is imprisoning them for $60,000
a year going to do? It’s costing
taxpayers even more money to imprison them,
and you’re not getting any of the money back.”
“I think for me when people say they
were convicted, I say if you want to
convict them, convict them. But convict
them on the truth. There was not
sufficient evidence.”
So you’re convinced they’re not guilty?
“100%.”
Alex Little is the family’s attorney.
“What would you say to those in the public
who are convinced that once you get a
conviction, Todd and Julie are convicted,
they’re guilty, and they should serve time?”
“Look, that’s not how our system works.
There’s a reason we have appeals; there’s
a reason we know of people who are
wrongfully convicted who get out all the time.
Our system has flaws, and so part of our job
is to show when those flaws affect
a conviction like this.”
Savannah’s father is serving his time
in a minimum security prison in Florida,
while her mother is behind bars
at a federal medical center in Kentucky.
“What was it like for them to say goodbye?”
“It was tough. Just watch them stand
at their bedroom, just hugging and kissing,
and not knowing.”
Then they left us all videos.
“What was the message to you?”
“You can do this; you shouldn’t have to.
So proud of you. I think my dad’s
exact words were, ‘You are what every
father wants for a daughter.’”
And this is now what my life is.
With their daughter relentlessly advocating
on their behalf:
“I’ve got like a whole thing right here.”
I’m just baffled.
First off, at what I’m about to say:
While in prison, Todd and Julie have
complained about poor conditions
behind bars.
Todd phoning in to News Nation from
confinement:
“It is so disgustingly filthy; the food
is literally—I’m not exaggerating this—
the
