The 17-year-old opens up about his experience visiting his parents behind bars.
Grayson Chrisley isn't holding back when it comes to discussing his parents' time in prison. The 17-year-old son of Todd and Julie Chrisley is on a new episode of sister Savannah Chrisley's Unlocked podcast, where the siblings open up about how they are coping with their new family dynamic.
"To me, it's worse than them dying," Grayson said of his parents' incarceration. "Because they're here, but they're not here. So it's just time that's being wasted. I'm saying, like, if they died, there's no possibility of you getting any more time with them. So it's over."
Savannah chimed in, "You're forced to have closure."
Grayson continued, "You know that no time is being wasted. But now, they're here but they're not here, so all that time is being wasted."
Savannah asked whether Grayson tries to "see it from a perspective of, at least they're still here for you to hug and say 'I love you.'"
Grayson replied, "I mean, yeah, but I get to do all that within a time limit," to which Savannah noted that the situation must be "tough for you to process."
Savannah, 25, has been filling in as the primary guardian for Grayson, 17, and her niece, Chloe, 10, while her parents are serving time for their respective roles in a federal tax fraud case. Julie is currently serving seven years in a federal penitentiary in Lexington, Kentucky, while Todd is serving a 12-year sentence in Pensacola, Florida.
In their discussion on the podcast, Savannah and Grayson opened up about their efforts to ensure that one parent has a visitor every weekend, but note that it's "impossible to keep up."
Grayson clarified that "it's not that I don't want to go, but I'm also 17," adding that his parents have told him to "live your life." Still, he said he feels "bad" when he doesn't visit. "You know they understand but it's like, you still feel bad."
While Savannah expressed feeling "renewed" after visits with her parents, Grayson shared that it puts him in a vicious cycle.
"I'm good Saturday," he said. "Sunday is when it hits me. And then Sunday to Thursday is bad, and then we go on Friday again and it's just the same thing again. You never really get out of it."
Savannah has been offering frequent updates on how her parents are doing in prison and how her family is navigating this challenging time. Last month, she revealed that Todd and Julie, who have been married for three decades, had not spoken to each other since beginning their sentences.
Savannah revealed at the time that her mother recently handed her 30 to 40 handwritten letters after visiting her in prison. The letters contained Julie's daily accounts, what she has been going through and how she feels about missing her husband, Todd.
"She actually sent me 30 to 40 days' worth of letters. It was just like her daily diary, journal," Savannah said. "I'll eventually put them out, read them at some point to give people updates on how they are doing and what was going through their minds."
RELATED CONTENT:
