After being found guilty of bank fraud and additional offenses earlier this year, Todd and Julie Chrisley are going to jail. The Chrisley Knows Best stars were sentenced to a combined 19 years back in November and are apparently looking to appeal. However, the couple is currently set to surrender themselves in January, meaning they now only have a few weeks to spend with their family. It would be an understatement to say that the change of surroundings is going to be an adjustment for the showbiz couple, who’ve been accustomed to living an opulent lifestyle. On that note, Real Housewives star Teresa Giudice – who’s done time – gave the Chrisleys key advice on how to handle their prison stints.
In 2014, the Real Housewives of New Jersey veteran was sentenced to 15 months in prison after she and ex-husband Joe Giudice (who was given 41 months) plead guilty to financial fraud. Teresa Guidice reported to prison in January 2015 and was released in December of that year. Giudice didn’t stay as long as Todd (who got 12 years) and Julie (who received 7) Chrisley are expected to, but she still definitely has experience here. When asked about how they couple should proceed, she quoted some words of wisdom from one of her memoirs:
I would say, one of my memoirs that I wrote, Standing Strong, so stand strong – stand strong for their family. And manifest, while being in prison, what they want when they come out. And just to be strong for their children. … It’s going to be very hard, but they have to make the best of it. And they have to just stand strong for their family and stay connected with their children and make it work.
While chatting with TMZ, the 50-year-old reality TV star also advised that the Chrisley children visit their parents whenever they can. One would think that they’ll do just that while Julie and Todd are incarcerated. As daughter Lindsie recently explained, even now the two parents are making the most of their time by being with their loved ones.
There are a few specific elements that the Chrisleys are going to have to contend with, one being the food. Teresa Guidice also addressed that as, when she was asked how one gets used to it, she said, “you just do.” The media personality also mentioned that she actually worked in the kitchen while doing jail time, and that was only one way in which she sought to remain productive. Giudice noted that she exercised and wrote her book during that period of her life.
Though she surely would’ve preferred not to have gone to the big house, Teresa Giudice doesn’t seem to look back on the experience in an entirely negative light. When reflecting on her prison stint, Giudice said it took her a while to be comfortable with saying that she’d done time. However, that changed in time and she can now “shout it out to the world.” She apparently even keeps in touch with some of the women she met there.
It’s hard to say, of course, whether that same kind of atmosphere is what awaits Todd and Julie Chrisley. As of right now, the Chrisleys are reportedly unhappy with how their case played out and purportedly “feel they were targeted unfairly by the judge.” Their lawyer, Alex Little, is “optimistic” about the appeal, though, as he argues that the trial was “marred by serious and repeated errors.”
Needless to say, it’s sounding like the Chrisleys are not looking forward to reporting to jail in Florida on January 17. But who knows? Maybe they’ll be successful and find ways to be proactive like Teresa Giudice did.
