2022 has been quite an eventful year for reality stars Todd and Julie Chrisley, who went to trial for bank fraud in May, and were soon found guilty of that and tax evasion, with a sentencing hearing set to take place in October. And all of this went on ahead of USA airing the back half of Chrisley Knows Best Season 9. The couple have requested an acquittal and new trial, with a ruling on that yet to go through, and in the meantime have continued to speak of their innocence while putting out new episodes of their podcast Chrisley Confessions. In the latest installment, they talked about fan support, and keeping the prosecutors in their prayers, with the real estate tycoon speaking out against those who approach sympathy by saying they understand others’ troubles.
The 198th episode of Chrisley Confessions, titled “Holding on to Hurt, Spiritually Attacked, and God’s Plan,” featured the following hot take comparison from Todd Chrisley regarding people who come up and offer what he apparently sees is faux compassion. Here’s how he put it:
People only know what they know. So if someone says, ‘Oh, I know what you’re going through,’ — no, you don’t, not unless you’ve been through it. There’s no way for you to know. It’s like me saying to a parent whose child is dying of cancer, ‘I know what you’re going through.' No, I don’t. I don’t know, and I thank God that I don’t know what you’re going through. My heart breaks for you, but I praise God that’s not been a battle that he’s given me.
Hard to predict that anyone’s first instinct would be to equate “dealing with the aftermath of a tax evasion conviction” with “coping with a child dying of cancer.” But so it goes. And though it may be a leap, Todd Chrisley at least makes his point abundantly clear, and it does make sense in a tautological sort of way. He continued speaking to that idea, saying:
Maybe you haven’t gone through the criminal processes that we’ve gone through, or the trials, or having your name slandered. So you can’t understand what that has done to us. Just like I can’t understand what the fear is of you holding your baby wondering is your child going to be spared.
In that sense, it’s technically impossible for Todd and Julie Chrisley to 100% be able to understand what the other is going through, since they interpret things differently. But they share in feeding into the idea that people shouldn’t just blindly state that they understand another person’s grief, trauma, or a generally foul mood.
Julie Chrisley followed up on her husband’s words by saying:
I think that’s what we need to realize is that we all have our hurts and we all have our hard moments, and every person’s hard moment matters to them. . . . And you don’t know what someone’s going through that you might walk up on today, that you might meet in the grocery store, that you might just see in passing. You don’t know what their heart is, or what they’re doing just to try to hold themselves together.
Plain and simple, just be kind to others at any and all given moments. And if you think that kindness involves using the phrase “I know what you’re going through,” then unless you’re a reality TV star who also lost a court battle against bank fraud charges, maybe avoid directly reaching out to Todd Chrisley on the matter.
The couple has remained firm in their stance that their conviction was not the right call, and that they will come out of this legal ordeal on the right side of things, with their marriage currently as strong as ever. In the aftermath of the verdict, Todd Chrisley has reflected on points in his life when he admits he let his greed and love of money overshadow more important values.
With the sentencing hearing coming in October, barring any delays in court, it’s unclear what the Chrisleys’ futures will be, and whether or not their reality TV reign will continue on USA with Season 10 and beyond.
