Savannah Chrisley is getting candid about her struggle with mental health issues and how being the star of a reality show has impacted her health journey.
Savannah recently caught up with mental health advocate Patrick Custer for his new episode Unlocked podcast and pondered the price of his role Chrisley knows best he hired her and her family due to their sudden fame.
“It was really, in a way, an acting gig. We knew we had to show up, we had to be funny, that’s what we did,” explained Savannah, 25. “When we started… it was pitched to us that it would be a reality show. And then it changed quickly. I think people, production companies, networks, have taken advantage of my father’s ability to approach a situation with humor .”
“They took advantage of it to the point where it always had to be fun. Every situation had to be approached with humor,” she said of her father, Todd Chrisley. “He used his humor to cope with many things in his life.”
Savannah said her father has undergone “a lot of therapy” over the past few years to learn to discuss things openly instead of deflecting with jokes and humor, and that he has had to seek help for his issues primarily to resolve self-image issues.
“Growing up the way I grew up and how everything was this picture perfect and I had an older brother who struggled with mental illness, addiction, all that stuff, and then I was on TV at 16 and being told how I should look, how I had to be,” he recalled. “It was like two being created [versions] of me. There was someone I wanted to be and then there was someone I was forced to be.”
“We want people to see what we want them to see, especially in the South, I feel it’s just a known thing that you keep your dirty laundry in. No one else has to know, no one else has to know about your issues,” she continued. “Having a level of pride and not wanting anyone to think you’re anything other than perfect creates this standard of you can’t go wrong. You can’t make mistakes. Everything has to be perfect.”
Savannah explained that she still deals with mental health issues in her daily life, sharing, “I definitely suffer from high functioning depression.”
It’s something he’s been dealing with since his teens, when he attempted suicide at the age of “15 or 16,” right before filming season 1 of Chrisley knows best “it was about to start.”
“I haven’t really had a life or death experience, but I’ve tried to commit suicide. So that potentially was maybe my life or death experience,” Savannah shared. “But to me, it was more of a cry for help.”
Savannah explained that memories of the experience are still fuzzy, but she knew she didn’t want to admit what really happened, and when she woke up in the hospital she
“Even at the time, I remember lying to the doctors about not wanting to be kept in the hospital, he said. I just remember masking myself.”
Ultimately, Savannah said she wanted people hearing her story to understand that “it’s okay to ask the hard questions, and it’s okay to take your medication, and it’s okay not to take it. That’s what works best for you.”
“Just ask yourself, ‘Am I doing everything in my power to live the healthiest life I can live?'” she added.
For more information about Savannah, watch the video below.
If you or someone you know needs help, call the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline at 1-800-273-TALK (8255).
RELATED CONTENT:
Savannah Chrisley describes Mother’s Day with Julie Chrisley in jail
Savannah Chrisley says Todd and Julie haven’t spoken
Savannah Chrisley told a “different story,” says Southwest Airlines
Savannah Chrisley says she’s been told to distance herself from her parents
Savannah Chrisley says dating was tough growing up the siblings
Originally published
#Savannah #Chrisley #opens #mental #health #suicide #attempt