Todd Chrisley is opening up about his daughter, Lindsie, for the first time since recent developments have changed things, with a major sit-down interview.
The Chrisley Knows Best star and his wife, Julie, settled in with ET, telling them to “ask us whatever you want to ask us” in a frank discussion about the reality TV family and their estranged relationship with the 31-year-old amid her own personal divorce drama.
Of course, fans will recall that Lindsie left the hit reality show back in 2017 before later accusing her father of extorting her with a sex tape — a claim Todd denies. She also dealt with his allegation that she was the one who turned her parents in to authorities on tax evasion charges. Lindsie has denied those accusations; Todd and Julie still face a 12-count federal indictment in that matter.
Related: Todd Vehemently Denies Plastic Surgery After UNBELIEVABLY Youthful New Look!
Regardless, he did have quite a lot to say, including updating fans about how recently he and Lindsie have communicated — and what he did with the message upon receiving it on his phone (below):
“I received a text message from Lindsie about two weeks ago. I turned that over to our attorneys because we don’t feel that it’s safe to communicate. Every time that I’ve done that it’s been twisted and turned, and in the position we’re in, we can’t run that risk. I am sad about the situation. I’m sad that my daughter chose to make decisions that she’s made in her life. But when you get married, marriage is supposed to be forever and you’re supposed to have a commitment to each other.”
OK…
And while Chrisley’s talk is obviously self-serving here, he nevertheless claimed that Lindsie’s issues all go back to “jealousy” and “hate” regarding the family’s ascent to fame years ago and now-23-year-old daughter Savannah’s popularity on social media.
He explained:
“She is my daughter and I love her. There was just some kind of emotional battle that Lindsie has had within herself, and jealousy amongst her siblings. It started out with Savannah having way more social media followers, and then [she] wasn’t getting enough time on the show. … Lindsie wasn’t, at that time, willing to allow the cameras into her personal life. She wouldn’t tell the world anything. There was never any extortion, that was all used for headlines. That was used to gain social media following. She’s our daughter, and I will tell you that the anger was there for a long time. Revenge and anger belongs to the devil. So I walked with the devil. I was dancing with the devil there for a minute. I had to remember that I am a father first. When you have children and you discipline your children, the world’s not gonna see that. But when Todd Chrisley disciplines his children, it’s a headline.”
Hmmm… all this over social media followers?! Maybe, but tax fraud allegations and extortion claims are a lot bigger than that!
BTW, for those unfamiliar with the Chrisley fam, Todd has five children, the eldest being Lindsie, followed by Kyle — who was long estranged from his dad and siblings up until this year. The brother and sister pair were welcomed during a previous marriage to Teresa Terry, while half-siblings Chase, Savannah, and Grayson share momma Julie.
Related: Todd Opens Up About Being Home And Healthy After Battling ‘That Bitch’ Coronavirus
Later in the interview, the poppa opined about whether he thought there was hope for him to ever reconcile with his eldest daughter in the future:
“I pray to God every day. It has been the hardest thing because I don’t know where you go from that. When you’ve had a child that you have loved the way that Lindsie has been loved, and this happens. All I can do is pray that God blesses her, and God gives her peace of mind and that God restores what can be restored.”
OK then.
Now, for her part, Lindsie’s team also delivered a new statement to ET on Monday.
In it, she basically maintained what she’s always maintained — that she’d rather talk about these issues with her father privately, as opposed to through media outlets or social media posts:
“She has tried to discuss these matters personally rather than through a back and forth in the media, but since that is not being reciprocated, she feels the need to speak up and defend herself from these and further false claims. In regards to the jealousy issue, there was never a jealousy issue, especially over followers or social media as far as Lindsie is concerned. Lindsie very much so has a life outside of the public eye and has worked over the years to preserve that. She drove back and forth from Atlanta to Nashville for almost a year to keep filming going and ultimately decided to leave the show when it was no longer a healthy environment for her and her son.”
And so, the estrangement — and the drama — continues.
BTW, one more thing before we go: Julie revealed to ET that the family’s short-term future included a move out of Nashville and back to their home state of South Carolina.
And Todd quickly chimed in that the move home was, in part, in order to prepare himself for a run to “go into some form of politics” at that point.
Yes, really.
Julie explained more:
“We’ve been together a long time and I’m not bailing now, so politics or no politics I’m gonna stick in there. We’re gonna do what we’ve always done, which is come together as a team and see what happens. I’ve had this conversation about our own kids, and just about this generation, of how easy it is to just throw in the towel and just start over. Everything is so disposable. Is our marriage perfect? No, it’s not, but I do think we have this mutual respect and we both agreed that we’re not throwing in the towel, no matter how tough things get.”
Just imagine Todd Chrisley going into politics, with the state of our country today and most of its politicians as they are right now… come to think of it, he’ll fit right in.
Oh, boy.
OH, BOY!!!
What do U make of all this, Perezcious readers?? Politics amid tax fraud indictments and sex tape extortion allegations?! Is that really the wisest move??
Actually, don’t answer that; we’ve already seen how that turns out. Sigh…
Anyways, sound OFF about Todd, Lindsie, and everything Chrisley-related down in the comments (below)…
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