Todd Chrisley is fighting with his family, in order to fight for his family.
On the penultimate episode of Lifetime’s new series The Chrisleys: Back to Reality, the newly pardoned patriarch of the reality dynasty struggled to come to terms with a bitter feud that divided his daughter Savannah and son Chase while he and wife Julie were incarcerated for bank fraud and tax evasion.
“Where Chase and Savannah are right now is an uncomfortable situation, but it’s not one I’m feeding into,” he shared. “One’s not going to get me over here to get me to talk about the one that’s not here, and this one’s not going to get me to talk about the one that just left. They’re both my children and I love them equally.”
Mark Hill/USA Network/NBCU Photo Bank/NBCUniversal via Getty
Todd might promise not to meddle, but any fan or even casual watcher of the series that made the Chrisley family famous, Chrisley Knows Best, knows that staying in his lane isn’t exactly the ex-realtor’s strong suit.
“I told both of my kids, the greatest form of disrespect to me and your mother [is] for y’all to ever be fighting. Because every one of y’all were conceived from pure love,” he continued.
Julie, who joined Todd in the confessional interview, noted that the enmity between their eldest children hits particularly hard, given the loss of her brother Trey Hughes in 2002.
“I don’t have that luxury. I don’t have my brother who I can go to, and sit down, and have dinner with, or fight and make up with,” she said.
Hearing his wife recall painful memories due to the family feud kindled a recent memory for Todd, too — an angry one.
“I said to [Savannah] last week, when she and I had a heated conversation, I said, ‘You will listen to me! That is your brother, he is my son, and he will be welcome anywhere I stand. You better get over your s— with him, because you’re not going out here holy rolling and saying that you’re fighting for the world when you won’t fight for your brother.'”
Sign up for Entertainment Weekly‘s free daily newsletter to get breaking TV news, exclusive first looks, recaps, reviews, interviews with your favorite stars, and more.
Savannah and Chase have broken down their respective sides of the conflict in past episodes of Back to Reality.
“Chase and I are definitely on rocky terms, because over the past two and a half years, he has not helped me at all. I mean, when it comes to the kids, financially, mom and dad — he has not picked up a single ounce of slack, and he’s been given ample opportunity to do so,” Savannah previously explained.
For his part, Chase acknowledged that Savannah feels he relinquished some familial duty, but stated, “Savannah wants help on Savannah’s time. As much as Savannah says she wants my help, I don’t think Savannah actually wants any help, because she wants to be able to say she did it on her own.”
Savannah was the driving force behind Donald Trump pardoning Todd and Julie in May, after they served two and a half years each in federal prison. She also took over care of her younger brother, Grayson, and Todd and Julie’s adoptive daughter, Chloe, who is Todd’s granddaughter from a previous marriage.
Lifetime
But Todd isn’t only laying down the law with Savannah, he also shared stern words he had with Chase.
“I have told Chase, just because you’re now in a better place, and you want to say ‘I’m sorry’…the person you offended doesn’t have to be at the same place at the same time,” he shared.
As The Chrisleys: Back to Reality draws to a close, Todd said he’s determined to reunite his family once and for all.
“At the end of the day, it is not going to continue, because I’m not going to tolerate it,” he said.
The Chrisleys: Back to Reality is currently streaming on Lifetime.
