The Chrisleys: Back to Reality is the latest show to follow the exploits of Julie and Todd Chrisley’s southern clan, though this production is a bit different than their USA Network series. Ordered by Lifetime earlier this year, this new docuseries greatly centers around the aforementioned couple’s kids, as they grapple with their parents’ prison convictions. Todd and Julie have since been pardoned and even appear on the show. Now, the two parents are sharing their thoughts about what’s played out on the show.
Ahead of Back to Reality’s premiere on the 2025 TV schedule, the eight-part series was described as a rawer look at the Chrisleys. That certainly proved to be the case, given how the producers chronicled the ups and downs faced by Julie and Todd’s kids. On a new episode of Chrisley Confessions, the two parents broke their silence on the show, with Julie admitting to having mixed feelings about it. What’s apparently been hard for her is seeing her children at odds without her or her husband being present:
It made me nervous, because we’ve always been to oversee, to referee, to talk people down off a ledge, whatever it is, just be parents within this reality show. And not to have that, it made me nervous. It was very raw. I think there was a lot of emotions, there was a lot of — everybody going through it the best way that they knew how to go through it. And, even now, I think everybody’s in such a different place.
Julie Chrisley (in the YouTube video) went on to explain how surreal it is to see her kids going through such a “hard” time on TV, which she said starkly contrasts with their family situation now. Although things are apparently somewhat better now, Chrisley got real about her mixed feelings:
I’m a little conflicted by it. Listen, first and foremost, I have always, from day one, been very clear. My job, my calling in life was to be a mom, and anytime you see your children not in a good place, it’s hard. That was the hardest part of it. But, unfortunately, it was what it was.
The biggest piece of drama that unfolds during The Chrisleys: Back to Reality is the rift between siblings Savannah and Chase Chrisley. During the show’s confessionals, Savannah accused her brother of not being helpful amid their parents’ absences. Chase, however, argued that his sister only wanted his help when it best suited her, as he believed she ultimately wanted to have the pleasure of saying she handled her broods’ affairs on her own.
When discussing the dynamics amongst their kids on the show, Todd Chrisley said he didn’t find the drama to be so “unfortunate,” an assertion that left Julie taken aback. Todd then proceeded to lay out his rationale:
The reason that I said that I don’t know that it’s unfortunate is because our kids have been forced, now, to grow up. I don’t think that’s an unfortunate event. I think that our kids are now saying what they feel without having to suppress it. They’re letting it come out. I don’t think that’s unfortunate. I think the way they speak to each other sometimes certainly is not how they’ve been raised and certainly could’ve been handled differently. But everyone processes pain differently.
As of this writing, Chase and Savannah haven’t formally reconciled, and Todd previously said he wouldn’t intervene as he didn’t feel it was his “job” to do so. That aside, Chase – who shared a cryptic Yellowstone-centric post amid the Back to Reality premiere – was revealed to have entered rehab for alcohol addiction by the time the finale was filmed. The family’s situation may be different now, but the issues that Todd and Julie (and various viewers) watched play out on screen remain in the public consciousness.
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