SAVANNAH CHRISLEY 'I'm Finding Good Things in the Midst of Trauma'

WHEN HER PARENTS ENTERED PRISON TWO YEARS AGO ON FRAUD CHARGES, SHE WAS THRUST INTO RAISING HER YOUNGER SIBLINGS AND FOOTING THE BILLS. HOW THE 27-YEAR-OLD REALITY STAR IS MANAGING-AND STILL MAKING TIME FOR ROMANCE

- DORY JACKSON

Always by Her Side Photographed in Gallatin, Tenn., on Jan. 29, Savannah wears a necklace with handwritten notes from her parents. "They've missed so much," she says.

Savannah Chrisley was a 16-year-old aspiring pageant queen living a charmed existence when her family became reality TV stars on Chrisley Knows Best in 2014. "I was like any other teenager who got on TV, had money, and I spent it like it was never going to end," she recalls. That all changed when her parents, Todd and Julie Chrisley, were convicted of bank and tax fraud offenses in 2022 and sent to prison, leaving her to raise her two younger siblings. "Between that and legal expenses, I am just like anyone else—I've struggled," she says. "Sure, I put a smile on my face. I look the part, I play the part. But it doesn't mean I actually am the part. You fake it till you make it."

Southern Characters The Chrisley Knows Best crew (ca. 2017, from left: Chase, Grayson, Julie, Todd, Chloe, Savannah and Nanny Faye).

In the two years since Todd and Julie reported to prison, Savannah, now 27, has become the legal guardian of Grayson, 18, and Chloe, 12, and the family breadwinner. Aside from her grandmother "Nanny Faye" Chrisley, she says she's had little help from her relatives, including her older siblings Chase, 28, Lindsie, 35, and Kyle, 33 (who is Chloe's biological father; Todd and Julie legally adopted her in 2016 amid Kyle's struggles with substance abuse).

As Savannah adjusted to her new normal, tragedy struck again when her ex-fiancé, hockey player Nic Kerdiles, died in a motorcycle accident at age 29 in September 2023. Still, "I'm finding good things in the midst of trauma," Savannah says, referring to the new love and business opportunities she's discovered along the way.