Though Real Housewives alum Jen Shah flipped to a guilty plea deal in her federal fraud case of late, fellow reality stars Todd and Julie Chrisley decidedly did not go with that option to forego a trial. The couple pled not guilty to the 12 counts of bank fraud, tax evasion and more charges leveled against them, and sought to prove their innocence during the recent trial in June. However, the jury ultimately found them guilty of all charges, and now that she's had a few weeks to sit with that news, their daughter Savannah Chrisley opened up further about a new life philosophy she has developed following her parents’ convictions.
The 24-year-old has long been a staple on her family’s reality series, USA Network’s Chrisley Knows Best, and her own spinoff with her brother Chase called Growing Up Chrisley. They all looked as happy as ever in the first trailer of the flagship show’s Season 9, which is currently airing, but apparently looks can be deceiving. Technically, Todd and Julie Chrisley were first indicted back in 2019, then re-indicted at the beginning of 2022 after filming officially concluded for the latest season. Speaking on her mom and dad’s Chrisley Confessions podcast, the usually “sassy” TV personality admitted that they’ve basically needed to live in the moment as a result of the upset. She said,
There’s been so much happening in life, I don’t even know where to be begin. But you kind of have to just take it as it comes, and you have to take it day by day. So that’s kind of where we’re at.
So, all in all, the Chrisleys are coping as best they can. But part of that means struggling with the negative stories generated about them in the press, and the criticisms coming from the public. Savannah Chrisley noted on the podcast the imbalance between people becoming more sensitive even as public interactions have become entirely insensitive. In her words:
I think just with everything that we’ve had go on and that we’re dealing with right now, it’s hard to live in the world that we live in. Which is so shocking to me because I feel like as time goes on, people are just becoming more and more sensitive. And so, how you’re going to become more sensitive to your emotions but less sensitive to other people’s emotions is mind-boggling to me. Because I feel like that’s what we’ve dealt with. That’s what I’ve dealt with, personally. The things that people have said since everything has gone down is just baffling.
Savannah Chrisley bluntly accused most spectators of being “not educated” on the fraud case. She even seemingly referenced the circulating allegations about her dad’s supposed gay love affair with a co-conspirator that were publicized anew during the trial, saying that “talking about someone’s sexuality or talking about their downfall” as fact is simply “not the truth.” The youngest Chrisley daughter urged listeners to “give them a chance” to tell their side of the story in due course.
When she broke her silence on Todd and Julie Chrisley’s convictions in June, Savannah initially reacted by saying that life was “so cruel.” But she was also clear in her opinion that the justice system had “failed” their family, and that they were planning to fight the verdicts in court. The Chrisley Knows Best star later added that she’s actually “grateful” for the legal woes because it’s bolstered her faith, as well as the relationships within their family. In the more recent heart-to-heart on Chrisley Confessions, she seemed convinced that her famous parents will still come out on top from this:
The hateful stuff that people leave, literally, it drives me up a wall, but I’ve also learned that for every negative comment, there’s 12 positive ones. So, I have to take the positive people and the support and go with that. And at the end of the day, we’re bound and determined to win in life. It doesn’t matter all of the negative stuff that has happened. If we can continue to do right, treat people right, and stand in our truth, then you win.
Todd and Julie Chrisley likewise broke their silence on the matter back in June, even if it was only for the patriarch to state that they wouldn’t be able to discuss certain details relating to the fraud and other convictions just yet. However, he did consider this to be a “very sad, heartbreaking time.” Evidently, they’re hoping for a “miracle” to happen.
As of now, the married couple are on house arrest in Georgia until their sentencing in October, at which time they could potentially receive the maximum of 30 years in prison. Meanwhile, Chrisley Knows Best continues to air Season 9 in the backdrop of these legal issues on the 2022 TV schedule – Thursdays on the USA Network. (Season 10, though, is a totally different story at this point.)
