Savannah Chrisley Admits She’s ‘Struggled’ Raising Younger Siblings
By Movieguide® Contributor
Reality star Savannah Chrisley recently opened up about raising her two younger siblings — Grayson, 18, and Chloe, 12 — since her parents, Todd and Julie Chrisley, were sent to prison for tax evasion and bank fraud.
“I’ve struggled,” Chrisley told PEOPLE magazine.
“I do anything that comes my way,” she said. “I’m no better than anyone else out here, to have to struggle. And I am not lazy. I know that I have two kids to provide for, and I know I have two parents that I need to get home.”
The CHRISLEY KNOWS BEST star says that she has worked multiple jobs, whether it’s selling houses or podcasting, in order to help support her siblings as well as legal fees to have her parent’s conviction overturned.
“I am just like anyone else out here. Sure, I put a smile on my face. I look the part, I play the part. But it doesn’t mean I actually am the part. You fake it till you make it. That’s the world that we live in,” she admitted.
She recalled one low point where she was preparing to visit her father for the first time in prison in Florida.
“I just remember Chloe’s room was a mess. I didn’t know what you had to wear. They’re super strict on guidelines for visitation wardrobe,” the 27-year-old remembered. “I just remember falling to the floor, and I was like, ‘I can’t do this. I am not my mom. I cannot do this.’ I then just sat there, and I was like, ‘If I don’t do it, who else will?” And I picked myself up, got their clothes, and we went on our way…You figure it out.”
READ MORE: SAVANNAH CHRISLEY SAYS ‘GOD MEANT FOR ME TO BE A MOM’ AS SHE RAISES SIBLINGS
The social media influencer recently shared in photos of her mother and father with Chloe and Grayson before they were sent to serve their prison sentences two years ago.
“Watching the two people I love most in this world say goodbye to us shattered my heart into pieces,” she wrote. “They have taught me everything about love, faith, and family, and to see them taken from us feels unbearable.”
“But I hold on to the hope that this isn’t the end of their story. God’s not done writing, and I believe with every ounce of my soul that they’ll be home soon,” her post went on to say. “Until then, we’ll fight for justice and stay strong as a family.”
Chrisley praised her brother Grayson, now attending the University of Alabama, who she said had “to grow up so fast.”
“He says, ‘You saved me. I don’t know what Chloe and I would’ve done without you.’ And I look at him, and I’m like, ‘He saved me more times than I can count,’” she told PEOPLE.
The Georgia native said that it’s been more challenging taking care of Chloe now that Grayson is at college.
“My heart breaks for her,” she said. “She’s not had an easy upbringing, and she’s had to endure the loss of parents twice”
Todd and Julie adopted Chloe, who is the biological daughter of Todd’s son Kyle, due to his struggle with substance abuse.
“I’ve always said, ‘God meant for me to be a mom.’ So, there’s a lot of things that just come naturally for me. But it’s a learning process, for sure,” Chrisley said.
Through her parent’s experience with the justice system, Chrisley has become an advocate for prison reform and is a senior fellow for criminal justice reform at the Conservative Political Action Conference.
“My eyes have been open to what actually happens in our criminal justice system, how broken it is,” she stated. “When I started realizing these things, I just knew I can’t stay silent about it any longer. I have to come out about it.”
Chrisley, who spoke at the Republican National Convention last year plans to seek a pardon from President Trump for her parents, partly due to what the Chrisleys’ attorney Jay Surgent say was an illegal search of their warehouse during the investigation.
“They believe that the president will seriously consider pardoning both Julie and Todd Chrisley as a result of the unfair treatment they received in the criminal justice system,” Surgent told CBS News.
Todd and Julie are currently serving a combined 19-year prison sentence.
READ MORE: SAVANNAH CHRISLEY IN ‘STATE OF GRATITUDE’ OVER FRIEND’S SUPPORT
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