NEED TO KNOW
Todd and Julie Chrisley are breaking their silence on the death of Nic Kerdiles, the ex-fiancé of their daughter Savannah Chrisley.
On the latest episode of their Chrisley Confessions 2.0 podcast, Todd, 56, noted the loss of Kerdiles is “still so painful” nearly two years after he died at age 29 in a September 2023 motorcycle accident.
“I’ve had so many people send me messages on Instagram wanting to know why I haven’t discussed it,” Todd explained. “I just wasn’t ready to discuss it. I actually am not ready to discuss it today. But out of respect for Nic and the love that we have for him today and will have for him for the rest of our days, I’m going to have this conversation one time and I’m never talking about it again.”
Todd noted that he hadn’t spoken out about Kerdiles’ death, even after he and Julie were pardoned by President Donald Trump and released from prison in May, because it is “still very fresh to me.”
“My heart has not healed, and I don’t know that it ever will heal,” he emotionally told listeners. “I don’t feel like I owe that to you. I don’t feel like I owe it to anyone to talk about how I feel about him today versus how I felt about him when he lost his life. But out of respect for the love that we have for him, I will tell you it was the hardest thing that I have ever dealt with in my life.”
The reality TV star went on to remember Kerdiles as “one of the finest, funniest, kindest young men.”
“I so wanted he and Savannah to be married,” he said. “I wanted grandchildren and that didn’t come to pass. But even when they broke up, I still had lunch with Nic, I still talk to Nic every day. We text a million times a day.”
Savannah started dating Kerdiles in late 2017. The pair got engaged in 2019 but they later called off the wedding and engagement in 2020. They officially broke up that year in September.
Despite the breakup, Julie recalled how Kerdiles was “there during our trial,” during which the pair indicted on 12 counts of bank and wired fraud, tax evasion and conspiracy and later convicted and sentenced to a combined 19 years in prison in November 2022 (though that number was reduced by around two years each in September 2023).
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They immediately began appealing their case, and while Todd’s appeal was upheld, Julie’s was initially granted due to insufficient evidence. However, a judge later ruled that her original punishment was sufficient.
“He drove us every day to trial,” Julie recalled of Kerdiles. “He made sure we had something to eat in the morning.”
“This was when he and Savannah were no longer together, but he was still there for us,” Todd said as Julie added, “Absolutely, he was.”
Todd recalled how Kerdiles even joined his family as they took him to begin his prison sentence. He said Kerdiles continued to email with him “every day” prior to his death.
Todd shared that he was “just crumbling” after learning of Kerdiles’ death from Savannah during one of her visits to the prison.
“It was truly so surreal that I became numb,” he said. “And we cried that whole visitation.”
“So I loved Nic and I love him to this day,” he said. “Nic was my friend, he was my buddy. He was another son to me. And there is not a day that goes by that I don’t think of him. And I think I still grieve for what could have been because I had always hoped…”
“They would find their way back,” Julie added of Savannah and Kerdiles, to which Todd added, “I think Savannah felt that they would find their way back. She had said that … ‘We’ll figure this out. We’ll figure it out.'”
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The Chrisley Knows Best alum concluded his tribute with a warning to fans that he would not be speaking again on the loss of Kerdiles.
“I’ve given you what you’ve asked for,” he said. “I’ve talked about something that is very near and dear to me and so don’t message me anymore and ask me anything about him because I’ve given you all I’m gonna give you for him.”
“He was a good, decent, honorable human being who loved and wanted to be loved,” he concluded of the former hockey player-turned-realtor. “And I feel blessed and honored to know that for four and a half years, God gave us that and he felt that. Nic Kerdiles did not leave this earth feeling as if the Chrisleys did not love him. So with that being said, that’s the end of my conversation about my son, Nic Kerdiles.”
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In February, Savannah opened up to PEOPLE about the death of Kerdiles.
“I truly was heartbroken, devastated,” she said at the time. “I had so many regrets of things I had said publicly, and things I wish I could have apologized for and just conversations that Nic and I never got to have.”
Savannah recalled receiving a call about the news as she was landing from a flight to Pensacola, Florida to visit Todd. When her friend delivered the news, Savannah recalled, “I was shaking and sobbing. I’m like, ‘I have to get home. I have to get home.'”
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The television personality added she “kept texting him, and I was like, ‘Please tell me it’s not true. Please. You’re okay, right?’ The messages were going through. So, I was like, ‘Okay, maybe they just got it wrong. He’s okay.’ Because it was still showing delivered.”
“And when I got there, I saw the news articles. So I was searching flights like, all right, trying to get home. Then, I was like, ‘I’ve got to tell [my] dad [Todd]. I can’t leave here without telling him,’ because he and Nic were best friends. So, I went and I told my dad. I walked in, and he just automatically knew, and I just broke down,” she continued.
“He knew something was wrong. And he was just devastated and heartbroken. And we sat there and we cried all day together. Chloe and Grayson were with me,” she adds, referencing her younger siblings, both of whom were under her care while here parents were in prison.
