Self-reflection. Todd Chrisley got real about how his definition of self-worth has shifted since facing fraud charges and financial scandal.
“I got lost when I couldn’t tell the difference in my self-worth and my net worth,” Chrisley, 53, confessed during the Friday, July 29, episode of his “Chrisley Confessions” PodcastOne podcast. “And the bigger my net worth became, the less I focused on my self-worth because everything was being built around that net worth. Around stuff.”
The Chrisley Knows Best star made headlines in May when he and wife Julie Chrisley were on trial after being accused of tax evasion and fraud three years prior. The twosome were indicted on five counts of bank fraud, one count of conspiracy to commit bank fraud, one count of conspiracy to defraud the United States and one count of tax fraud.
The duo pleaded not guilty, but on June 7, they were convicted on all counts. Additionally, Julie, 49, was also charged with one count of wire fraud and one count of obstruction of justice after previously being accused of creating a fake credit report to rent a home. The pair’s sentencing hearing is set for October.
Todd reflected on the couple’s road to financial scandal on Friday, noting that the drive to make money derailed his road to happiness.
“You have all these cars that you’ve got to maintain and all these houses that you have to maintain and these trips you have to do in order to keep up with everyone around you,” he said. “You become a slave to the things that you thought were going to bring you peace. … So I got lost in that and for my whole life because I think I was too ignorant — and when I use the word ignorant [I mean] I [didn’t] know that I understood how to differentiate self-worth and net worth.”
The Chrisley patriarch noted that in time he “finally realized” that his priorities were out of whack with what he really wanted.
“I finally realized that I wasn’t competing with everyone else around me, I was competing with me because my self-worth is low,” Todd continued. “And I think that God is showing me through so many things that he’s doing every day that I’m worthy. [He’s saying], ‘I’ve got you, son, I’ve got you in my right hand. I’ve got you right where I want you because your eyes are focused on me and you’re not taking them off of me.’”
The TV personality further explained that thanks to that realization and continued faith in God, he and Julie have gotten to a very zen place despite their legal woes.
While speaking to their couple’s therapist, Todd revealed that he concluded that things are where they are supposed to be.
“I’m willing to share what I have gotten from my therapy,” he told his listeners, sharing that when asked what he’s learned amid the scandal he answered, “It’s taught me that I’m not with myself. That I’m with my Lord and Savoir. That I’m with God who’s by my side 24 hours a day, seven days a week.”
Todd continued: “It’s taught me that I’m doing nothing by myself to where before I did everything on my own.”
When it comes to how his marriage has been affected by the recent stress, he responded, “I said in my perspective it has drawn me closer to my wife. I feel like my marriage for me personally, internally, is the strongest that I’ve ever felt that it’s ever been — that’s for me, that’s how I feel.”
The reality star told Julie: “I feel like for the first time in my life, in my marriage, I feel like my marriage is feeding a part of me that I didn’t even know was starving. I feel like I understand you from a different level [more] than I ever have before and I feel like that you have opened up more since all of this than you have the entire time that we’ve been in our marriage.”
Julie, who shares daughter Savannah, 24, and sons Chase, 26, and Grayson, 16, with Todd, agreed “100 percent” with her husband. (Todd is also the father of Lindsie, 32, and Kyle, 30, from his relationship with Teresa Terry.)
“I think for both of us, this situation, our season of life right now, has shown us that it’s not just about [what] our plan is, but it’s what’s God’s plan is,” she revealed. “And for a long time I think it was always our plan, not God’s plan.”
Todd chimed in, “It’s still us for the world, not against the world. I say that now because us is centered around our Lord and savior.”
