If you’ve been watching the reality show Chrisley Knows Best since it first debuted in 2014, you probably remember Todd Chrisley’s son, Kyle. Unfortunately, due to drug addiction and other personal issues, the 29-year-old had a falling out with his family and hasn’t been on the show since its first season. To find out what happened to Kyle Chrisley and where he is now, read on!
Kyle Chrisley Is Best Known For Being On ‘Chrisley Knows Best’
Kyle Chrisley was born on August 29, 1991. He’s the eldest son of Georgia real-estate tycoon Todd Chrisley, the subject of USA’s runaway hit reality show Chrisley Knows Best. Todd is a self-made multimillionaire with a snarky, controlling personality. He lives a privileged life with his wife, Julie, and five children – Lindsie, Kyle, Chase, Savannah, and Grayson.
Chrisley Knows Best is currently in its eighth season, but Kyle hasn’t made an appearance since season one. A recovering drug addict with bipolar disorder, he was reportedly asked to leave the show because he had relapsed and was not taking his medication. “I didn’t kick Kyle off the show,” Todd said in a 2014 interview with E! News. “He refused to take his medication. He was hostile to the crew. He was hostile to other people on the show and you can’t have that.”
Not long after, Todd Chrisley was granted full custody of Kyle’s daughter, Chloe. This didn’t sit well with the troubled reality star, who publicly accused his dad of using Chloe to boost the show’s ratings.
“My dad showed no interest in Chloe at all until the show and until it was pointed out that having a mixed race child and getting her and all that would be good for his demographic,” he told Daily Mail in 2014. “He didn’t want to see her before then. He said he wanted nothing to do with her.”
A Tax Evasion Scandal Caused A Huge Falling Out With His Parents
In August of 2019, Todd and Julie Chrisley made headlines when they were indicted on tax evasion charges. Accused of dodging nearly $2 million in state taxes between 2008 and 2016, the couple vehemently denied any wrongdoing. In a statement on Todd’s Instagram page, the reality patriarch wrote:
“I’ve never talked about this publicly before, but there’s been a cloud hanging over Julie and me and our entire family for the past seven years. It all started back in 2012, when we discovered that a trusted employee of ours had been stealing from us big time. I won’t go into details, but it involved all kinds of really bad stuff like creating phony documents, forging our signatures, and threatening other employees with violence if they said anything.”
In the statement, Chrisley continued, “We know we’ve done nothing wrong.. I’m telling you all this now because we have nothing to hide and have done nothing to be ashamed of. 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.”
Ultimately, the Chrisley’s were cleared of all state charges. But the scandal caused their already existing rift with Kyle to worsen.
In 2017, when news broke that Todd and Julie were being investigated for tax evasion, Kyle publicly slammed his parents in an interview with Good Morning America. He claimed his dad would brag about not paying taxes and should be “held accountable” for his alleged actions.
Kyle Chrisley Has Battled Through Many Mental Health Challenges
Just two weeks after the tax evasion charges were announced, Kyle landed in the hospital due to a suicide attempt. “I take medication, and I had a bad side effect to it, and I tried to take my own life,” he later explained on the Chrisley Confessions podcast.
Kyle also admitted that his estrangement from his family was largely due to his drug addiction and that he regretted the negative claims he had made against his father.
“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 in an August 2019 Facebook post. “9 months ago I went to my dad with an apology. His words were ‘I love you always, and you are forgiven’ and just like that I was welcomed back into his life with open arms. I will be forever grateful for his love [and] graciousness.”
Kyle also confessed that he had lied in his scathing Good Morning America interview. “Everything I said in my interview was a lie,” he wrote. “I can’t take it back so I’m telling you now, with a clear mind, my mom and dad have done nothing wrong! Today, I am sober. I am working, and I am at a good place in my life. I just want to fix what I’ve done wrong so that I am able to forgive myself.”
Kyle Chrisley Is On A New Path And Is Now Engaged
Happily, things seem to be looking up for Kyle Chrisley. In addition to reconciling with his family, the struggling star recently announced his engagement to girlfriend Ashleigh Nelson.
“I couldn’t imagine my life without you and now I don’t have to,” Kyle wrote on Instagram, next to a picture of his bride-to-be. “I love you so much @ashleighcnelson I’m so happy you said yes.”
The 29-year-old Chrisley is also staying sober and working on strengthening his relationship with eight-year-old Chloe.