Todd Chrisley's son Kyle opens up about addiction, mental health and his recent suicide attempt
"I tried to take my own life," he said on the family podcast.
A week after Todd Chrisley shared a photo with his family around his eldest son, Kyle Chrisley, in the hospital, more details are being revealed as to why the reality star's son was getting treatment.
"NOT TODAY SATAN, NOT TODAY... Kyle is great and we are back to the grind," the "Chrisley Knows Best" star wrote last week.
On Thursday, Chrisley and his son, 27, took to the podcast "Chrisley Confessions" to "stamp out rumors," while disclosing that Kyle Chrisley had attempted to take his own life.
Kyle Chrisley's mental health, addiction and recovery were all discussed in hopes of starting a dialogue, and Julie said the whole point of the podcast was to help others going through similar situations.
After Chrisley said on the podcast that he loves his children more than anything else in the world, Kyle Chrisley explained what happened.
"I take medication and I had a bad side effect to it, and I tried to take my own life," Kyle Chrisley said.
He wasn't specific about the medication, but Chrisley added that "suicidal tendencies" was one of the side effects of the drug. Chrisley also said that years back, Kyle Chrisley was diagnosed as bipolar.
Kyle Chrisley said that "family support" and new medication has him on the right track. He also admitted that his addiction has landed him in rehab more than 40 times.
"I will not bury my child," Chrisley said about trying to make rehab work for his son, when he may not have been ready in the past.
Kyle Chrisley also spoke about his daughter, Chloe, and how she is now living with Chrisley and his wife Julie, because of "my addiction and my mental illness."
"What she says now is she has two dads," Chrisley said.
As the duo spoke more about their tumultuous past as father and son, the theme kept coming back to Chrisley telling Kyle Chrisley how much he loves his boy and how he'll always be there for him.
The recent health scare for Kyle Chrisley comes amid turmoil Chrisley and Julie Chrisley are dealing with after being charged with tax evasion. It should be noted these two issues were not said to be connected in any way by both Chrisley and Kyle Chrisley.
Chrisley and his wife were charged last month tax evasion, bank fraud, wire fraud and multiple counts of conspiracy, according to a statement from the U.S. Attorney's Office in the Northern District of Georgia.
"Todd and Julie Chrisley are charged not only with defrauding a number of banks by fraudulently obtaining millions of dollars in loans, but also with allegedly cheating taxpayers by actively evading paying federal taxes on the money they earned," U.S. Attorney Byung J. “BJay” Pak said of the criminal indictment.
But Chrisley has also spoken out and said he expects to be vindicated, adding he discovered in 2012 that a "trusted employee of ours had been stealing from us big time," saying that this employee created phony documents and forged signatures. Todd and Julie Chrisley plead not guilty shortly after the charges were announced.
Chrisley said that after firing him and taking him to court, the employee "took a bunch of his phony documents to the U.S. Attorney's office and told them we had committed all kinds of financial crimes, like tax evasion and bank fraud."
"I'm telling you all this now because we have nothing to hide and have done nothing to be ashamed of," he wrote last month. "Not only do we know we've done nothing wrong, but we've got a ton of hard evidence and a bunch of corroborating witnesses that proves it."
If you or someone you know has talked about contemplating suicide, call the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline at 1-800-273-8255, or use the online Lifeline Crisis Chat, both available 24 hours a day, seven days a week.
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