Todd Chrisley and Julie Chrisley have been candid about their journey to adopt granddaughter Chloe — and the situation only got messier amid their legal troubles.
In 2014, viewers were introduced to the couple’s large family when Chrisley Knows Best debuted. At the time, Todd opened up about his and Julie’s attempt to gain custody of son Kyle Chrisley and Angela Johnson‘s daughter, Chloe, following her birth one year prior.
After Todd and Julie gained full custody of Chloe in 2016, Kyle took to social media to praise his parents. “I haven’t been the best dad to Chloe, I’ve had a problem with drugs, I’ve acted completely ridiculous and through all that, they have stood by my side,” he wrote via Facebook at the time.
In 2019, the pair were indicted on tax evasion charges and were found guilty in June 2022 of tax evasion, bank and wire fraud and conspiracy. Five months after their trial, Julie was ordered to seven years in prison while Todd was issued a 12-year prison sentence.
Shortly before their sentencing, Julie called out trolls who claimed she couldn’t refer to Chloe as her daughter.
“Every child that has been adopted has biological parents,” she explained on daughter Savannah Chrisley‘s “Unlocked” podcast in November 2022. “That doesn’t mean that we aren’t her parents. She is ours. She is our daughter. She is not our granddaughter. She is our daughter, which makes her your sister.”
Savannah, for her part, noted that they took the little girl in when she was “a little less than a year old” after an allegedly difficult home life. “This child came to us from her biological mother,” she said. Savannah then claimed: “She had been starved half the time. She wasn’t clean. She came to us one time with a burn on her chest. So, yes, her biological mother may have had her but that doesn’t make you a mother.”
Amid her parents’ legal woes, Savannah confirmed that she was taking over custody of Chloe and brother Grayson. (Todd and Julie share kids Lindsie, Kyle, Chase, Savannah and Grayson.)
Meanwhile, Johnson revealed her own plans to gain back custody, telling TMZ one month later, “I’m her biological mom. I didn’t walk away from her. I was pushed out of her life.”
Scroll down for everything to know about who had custody of Chloe over the years: