All of the Chrisley kids have a bear with their mother, Julie Chrisley's voice on it.
Savannah Chrisley, 27, who has custody of her brother Grayson, 18, and sister Khloe, 11, said on her podcast “Unlocked” on Tuesday that her mother originally recorded the prayer in a Build-A-Bear and gave it to Khloe before she entered prison in January 2023 because she and Khloe always prayed together every night.
“And Grayson had tears in his eyes and said, 'I want one too,'” Savannah said. “And Build-A-Bear closed in like 30 minutes, but she rushed over and made two for Grayson, one for me and one for Chase, so we all still have one.”
Savannah said she still listens to the bear recording, but “my kids don't. Chloe heard someone listen to it the other day and she freaked out and said, 'Don't listen to it! Don't listen to it!' She hasn't listened to it at all.”
Todd and Julie Chrisley appeal tax evasion conviction after more than a year in prison
Savannah Chrisley (right) said that before her mother, Julie (center), went to prison, she gave each of her children Build-A-Bears with a personalized message. (Getty Images)
Chloe is Savannah's niece, but Todd and Julie adopted her due to her estranged brother Kyle's substance abuse and legal problems.
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“Looking at it from an outsider's perspective, I can't imagine what it must have been like receiving it, but seeing everyone play it for the first time and hearing it, it was just heartbreaking,” Savannah's friend Tyler Bishop said on the podcast.
Julie Chrisley and Todd Chrisley, known for their reality TV show “Chrisley Knows Best,” were sentenced to a combined 19 years in prison in November 2022 for fraud and tax evasion.
Todd initially Julie was originally sentenced to 12 years in prison but had two years reduced. Julie was charged with bank fraud and tax evasion in August 2019 and sentenced to seven years in prison. In September 2023, her sentence was reduced by 14 months.
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In June, an appeals court vacated her sentence, citing legal errors in how the judge calculated the sentence. She is due to be resentenced later this month.
Her friend, podcast producer Erin Duggan, recalled having lunch with Savannah after her parents turned themselves in to federal prison.
Savannah Chrisley has custody of her brother Grayson and sister Khloe while their parents are in prison. (Kevin Winter/Getty Images)
“It was like the weight of the world was on my shoulders. We went to lunch, I had a few glasses of wine, and it was like I had just accepted, I'm not going back to work, this lunch was going to last as long as it needed to. And it was a long lunch, and then we came back here and had a complete breakdown,” Dugan said. “But most people in your situation wouldn't cope as well as you would, they'd have a much worse breakdown. I was happy that you cried in relief. I was just crying.”
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“Erin was like, 'Cry! Cry! Let it out!' and I was like, 'Trust me, I've reached my limit,'” Savannah laughed.
Savannah Chrisley with her parents, 2015 (Rick Diamond/Getty Images for Concert for Love and Acceptance)
“I feel like I have so much pent up energy that I don't really have anywhere to go, so when I get to that point, I look at it as a positive thing because I feel like I need to get it out,” she said.
Savannah's friend Holly Waldrup added after the verdict that Julie and Todd were “so in denial” about going to prison.
“Nobody accepted the fact that they were leaving until they got there,” she said.
Julie Chrisley gave each child a bear. (Tommy Garcia/USA Network/NBCU Photo Bank via Getty Images)
Savannah added that she has since told her mother about the “impossible situation,” and that Julie told her she wished she had been more prepared before going to prison, “because the parents hadn't done anything to prepare for leaving, like packing up the kids, moving them, packing their belongings.”
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She said that after her parents went to prison, she and her ex-fiancé, Nick Kerdiles (who died in a motorcycle accident later that year), packed all their belongings themselves.
