Julie Chrisley’s life, as well as her children’s, was turned upside down after she was sentenced to seven years in prison.
While speaking to TODAY.com, the Chrisley matriarch, who was pardoned and released earlier this year, reflects on how her youngest son, Grayson Chrisley, was affected by her imprisonment and what they want to keep private after being in the public eye for over 10 years.
The Chrisleys are no stranger to reality television. Julie Chrisley, along with husband Todd Chrisley and their combined six children, starred in the USA Network series “Chrisley Knows Best” from 2014 to 2023.
The family’s time on screen ended after the parents were convicted on federal fraud charges in 2022. They reported to their respective prisons in 2023, with Julie Chrisley serving an original seven-year sentence, which was later shortened by 14 months. Todd Chrisley’s 12-year sentence was changed to 10 years.
After being pardoned by President Donald Trump and released in May 2025, they began filming the Lifetime special “The Chrisleys: Back to Reality.”
In the first episode, Grayson Chrisley talks about leaving baseball behind after his parents went to prison and how he’s given up his life to the cameras.
“Baseball was my entire life. That’s what I’ve done every weekend, year-round since I was 5 years old,” the 19-year-old told the camera. “I’ve never played a game that my mom wasn’t at.”
Amid his parents’ legal case, he recalled his mom getting out of court to go watch his tournament in Atlanta, adding that when she couldn’t be there to watch him play, he decided, “I don’t really want to play anymore.”
The teen then showed off a stuffed animal bear with a voice recording that his mom left him.
“And now I’m not playing it,” he said. “I don’t want to listen to it. I feel like that’s the last private thing I have.”
When a person off camera asked if playing the message out loud was “too far,” Grayson Chrisley replied, “I mean, we give the cameras everything. That’s one thing I won’t”
Adding, “That’s one thing the cameras don’t get.”
Julie Chrisley tells TODAY.com that she had not seen the scene and had no idea he said that.
“I commend Grayson and I didn’t know that that took place. I didn’t know that he said that,” she says. “And I love that he was able to set those boundaries because that’s very important.”
She continues, “And I’m so glad and so proud of him for that.”
She says it takes “a village” to raise children, commending daughter Savannah Chrisley, who became Grayson Chrisley and her niece Chloe’s legal guardian after Julie and Todd Chrisley entered prison.
The Lifetime special documented Savannah Chrisley’s journey to help her parents be released and the dysfunction the family faced.
“You see the ups and the downs and the chaos and dysfunction that’s going on,” Savannah Chrisley tells TODAY.com. “But for 10 years, we had to live a life that wasn’t necessarily our life. So for this show, whether people like comments I make or don’t like comments I make, I feel at peace knowing I lived in the moment.”
She adds that the biggest thing for her was to be “truly authentic and honest about my journey and my story, and that’s what I did.”
The family continues to share updates on podcasts and social media. But Julie Chrisley notes that there might be some changes when it comes to returning to reality TV.
“I’m sure there are going to be things that I’m going to want to keep private,” Julie Chrisley says. “You have to keep in mind, we weren’t here for the filming of this season. We literally filmed when we came home, and then we filmed a couple of interviews. So that was the extent of us filming.”
Calling it a “completely different” experience than “Chrisley Knows Best,” she says. “There’s going to be some learning curve if there is more filming in the future.”
