LEXINGTON, Kentucky — Julie Chrisley‘s surprising prison hobby has been revealed by a woman who was locked up with the reality star for eight months.
The 52-year-old is serving seven years and her husband Todd Chrisley is behind bars for 12, after both were convicted of fraud and tax evasion.
Their daughter Savannah Chrisley has been passionately advocating for their cause, sharing her hopes that she can get them pardoned by President Donald Trump.
Now Savannah has offered her fans a glimpse of her mother’s life in confinement, courtesy of a woman called Sharita Mona who served eight months with her at the Federal Medical Center in Kentucky.
Sharita shared that Julie was ‘really quiet’ when she first entered the correctional institution, in an interview on Savannah’s podcast Unlocked.
Sharita Mona, who served eight months with Julie, has offered a glimpse into her life there on Unlocked, the podcast hosted by Todd and Julie’s daughter Savannah
However, after some time had gone by, Sharita became privy to Julie’s recreational pursuits and the two women developed a friendship.
Speaking to Savannah, Sharita recalled that the first time she saw Julie in prison, the reality star “had her head down. She wasn’t really talking to anybody.”
Sharita continued: “She smiled, but you could tell she was in deep thought. She was thinking about getting to where she had to go. And a few people spoke to her, but she was by herself and kind of just with herself. She was real quiet.”
However Sharita said she saw a different side of Julie’s personality ‘later, when she started playing cards,’ joking: ‘She was a little card shark.’
Savannah grinned with recognition and said: “Oh, yeah,” at this description of her mother, suggesting cards have been a longtime hobby of Julie’s.
Julie took to playing cards with a group of women who were also friendly with Sharita, which is how the pair of them were introduced.
Sharita fondly recalled that Julie would encourage her to go into real estate after she was back in society, and even taught real estate classes to other inmates.
Armed with the knowledge that Julie had helped her cultivate, Sharita emerged from jail and quickly managed to flip a house at a $60,000 profit.
Meanwhile, Todd’s 35-year-old daughter Lindsie recently revealed that she has not been to see her father in over a year.
Speaking about the tense topic on the latest episode of her podcast, Southern Tea, Lindsie added that she has never been to visit her step-mom Julie in the more than two years that the reality star has been in prison.
“The last time I visited my dad probably was … was it the beginning of last year? I can’t even honestly remember,” she said candidly.
“[Nanny Faye and I] used to go together [to see my dad] when they first went [to prison],” Lindsie said.
“It was just like, [a] more comfortable situation for both of us to go [and] stay in a hotel together. I have never been to Lexington to visit Julie.”
Todd and his wife Julie were found guilty of committing tax evasion and bank fraud totaling $30 million in June 2022.
She has been a prisoner at Federal Medical Center Lexington in Kentucky since January 2023.
“I have not seen my dad in quite some time and I have had no contact. And that’s all I’m going to say for that,” Lindsie admitted.
Todd welcomed Lindsie and her brother, Kyle, during his first marriage to Teresa Terry and Julie adopted both of them when she and Todd wed.
The two children were notably around during in the early days of Chrisley Knows Best, but it seems Lindsie’s relationship with them has been strained ever since Todd and Julie’s prison sentence.
Lindsie’s comments came after her younger sister Savannah Chrisley admitted that visiting her parents in prison is “really tough.”
The 26-year-old television personality – who recently talked about the poor conditions endured by her father – opened up on her Unlocked podcast about her two recent visits with her parents.
She said that she has found that the process has actually gotten tougher when visiting her mother Julie, 51, who is serving her prison sentence in a different facility than 55-year-old husband Todd.
“I used to say I think it would get easier as time goes on, but I really think that’s a lie,” Savannah said.
“I think I was lying to myself to make myself feel better because it does get harder. It gets harder each time you leave, and you know you’re leaving them behind.”
It wasn’t just leaving her parents that she had trouble navigating, as Savannah also admitted to having a ‘really tough’ time watching other families visit their loved ones in prison.
“It truly does just break a lot of families,” Savannah continued.
“And a lot of families don’t have the resources to maybe get the help that they so desperately need or that they’re searching for or they may not have the guidance.”
She did say that her separate visits with her parents have actually aided in spending quality time with them in addition to helping in bringing her clarity regarding her life.
The Sharknado 4: The 4th Awakens actress said: ‘I love my one-on-one time, but also, we get to have really intentional conversations.
“I find myself just kind of reflecting on a lot of things in life, and just things as a kid, and we just get to have conversations that I feel like we’ve needed to have for a really long time.”
By SAMEER SURI and NOLA OJOMU/Daily Mail
