Savannah Chrisley gives an update on Todd and Julie's lives in prison: 'There's days that are tough. There's struggles.'
Savannah Chrisley understands it's weird to say someone is doing well in prison, but, from her perspective, her parents are.
Her mom, Julie Chrisley, has "made friends," Savannah said on Monday's episode of her podcast, Unlocked with Savannah Chrisley, which was the first one recorded after her parents reported to prison. "She’s keeping busy. She’s going to church. She is working. She's playing some Spades. And when I tell you about playing, she has run a dog on everyone. So anyone that knows my family knows that, like, Spades is our game."
Father Todd Chrisley is "doing pretty good" too.
"He is working in the chapel, which is absolutely amazing," the Chrisley Knows Best star said, "and I could never be more proud of my dad and the man that he is."
Still, Savannah added, "There's days that are tough. There's struggles."
At least the two have kept in touch in multiple ways since the Chrisleys reported to prison on Jan. 17, after the couple was convicted of tax evasion and bank fraud in June. He's serving 12 years at the Federal Correctional Institution Pensacola in Florida, while Julie, who was sentenced to seven years, finds herself at the Federal Medical Center Lexington in Lexington, Ky, where inmates require medical or mental health care.
"We talk to him, we email him. We get to see him," she said. "So for that, I am forever grateful, because there are so many people that don't get to see their loved ones that are in different facilities, that are maybe in maximum-security prisons that don't get visitors, that have to say hello through… a piece of glass. So for that I'm grateful."
She explained, on the show recorded Jan. 24, that hearing how he's helping some of his fellow prisoners become Christian is something that puts her "at peace."
But not every moment has been serene. She said her parents' reporting week had been "the toughest week, I think, of my life."
She said that she's working with her family's legal team every single day to get her parents out of prison — they plan to appeal — all the while dealing with having taken on custody of her 16-year-old brother Grayson, and Chloe, 10, her niece being raised by her parents. It's obviously been a lot for the 25-year-old, and she broke down a few times.
"There's been a lot of tears shed, a lot of anger, a lot of screaming, a lot of just completely being broken to my core," Savannah said. "But I've had to figure out how to rebuild, and I feel like we’re gettin' there, at least a little bit."
She said that Chloe has had "so much anger towards the situation," while the growth going on with Grayson makes her feel bad for her parents, whom are missing out on so much.
She read part of one of Todd's emails, in which he told her to "give yourself some grace" and "fall in love with the real Savannah, the one that I raised that radiates a room with her kindness and compassion, not the one the world wants to see."
