- Savannah Chrisley said she is struggling with custody of brother Grayson, 16, and niece Chloe, 10.
- The eldest daughter of Todd and Julie Chrisley spoke candidly on "Unlocked with Savannah Chrisley."
It's been two weeks since Todd and Julie Chrisley began their prison sentences for bank fraud and tax evasion, and the couple's eldest daughter has opened up about just how much the family is struggling to adjust to life without them.
In a new episode of her podcast "Unlocked with Savannah Chrisley," released Tuesday, Savannah Chrisley admitted that she "felt defeated" in her attempts at caregiving for her younger siblings.
The 25-year-old said that she had taken custody of Todd and Julie's teenage son, Grayson, 16, and adopted daughter, Chloe, 10 shortly after the reality stars were handed their years-long sentences in November 2022.
"I don't feel adequate enough for this job," Savannah said on the podcast, after recalling how she had difficulty finding Chloe appropriate clothes for prison visitation and products to style her hair.
"I am not my mother, which I wish I was. Because she is the kindest, most loving, most amazing human being I've ever met. I always said if I could be half of her I would be okay," she tearfully continued.
"I guess in moments like these I realize I'm more like my mom than I realize because I'm getting through it. I find the strength to get through it and do it."
Savannah said that before she went to bed that evening, she wrote to her father — who is permitted in his minimum security prison to communicate via email and phone — about her "crappy day" and woke up the next morning with an inspiring message from him.
Elsewhere in the episode, Savannah said she was trying to create the "most normal life" for herself and the two minors, starting with recreating her mother's homemade dinners.
"It's what she did. She cooked every single night so that's what I'm going to do," she said, explaining that it was a way to keep Julie's presence felt in the household.
"I'm going to try and have the most normal life for me and the kids that I can possibly have because they deserve that, my parents deserve that, and I will step up in any which way I have to step up," she continued.
On a previous episode of her podcast, Savannah shared that her younger brother and niece would be placed with her immediately after the sentencing.
"I come home Tuesday, and I have custody of a 16-year-old and a 10-year-old, and we spend our first Thanksgiving not as a family," she said on her November 22 episode.
Together, Todd and Julie are also parents to a 26-year-old son, Chase. Real estate mogul Todd also shares daughter Lindsie, 33, and son Kyle, 31, with his ex-wife, Teresa Terry. Chloe is Kyle's biological daughter who Todd and Julie won custody of in 2016.
In December, Chloe's biological mother, Angela Johnson, announced her plans to regain custody of her daughter in light of Todd and Julie's sentencing.
Todd and Julie, known for their USA Network reality show "Chrisley Knows Best," were convicted in June 2022 of defrauding banks out of more than $30 million by providing fake financial statements making them look wealthier than they were. They began their sentences — 12 years for Todd and seven for Julie — on January 17.