Season after season, Chrisley Knows Best fans watch Todd Chrisley and his family live an extravagant life. So, naturally, viewers want to know what the real estate mogul *actually* does for a living that allowed him to score his own reality TV show and their luxurious life.
Though Todd amassed his wealth through real estate, in recent years, he lost everything — and his net worth was actually listed at -$5 million (yes, that’s a negative sign). But, various reports say the former mogul is bouncing back from bankruptcy, which he filed for in 2012.
“He guaranteed a real estate development loan and it failed,” his attorney, Robert Furr, told People magazine in March 2014 about his troubling financial history. “He was on the hook for $30 million. If he hadn’t had that happen, he would have been fine.”
He also filed corporate bankruptcy the following year for his company, Chrisley Asset Management. For someone who claimed to spend $300,000 a year on clothes alone during season 1, it was a major blow.
In 2014, Todd claimed the bankruptcy case was “truly in its final phases,” and he had “moved on from it.” However, legal documents obtained by the Daily Mail the following January stated the patriarch still owed around $70,000, and the trustee presiding over the case demanded he be found in contempt of court. The reality dad founded his company in 2002 but shut it down for good in 2008.
Eventually, the family also gave up their $2.4 million, 30,000-square-foot mansion in Georgia, which was often featured on camera. They since moved to Nashville, citing “security” as the reason for their relocation. In an interesting twist, Todd’s wife, Julie Chrisley, actually has a small fortune of her own and has lent him at least $4 million during their marriage. “She is well-off,” his attorney revealed in 2014. “She has her own money. This is money that she lent him over the years for his business. It’s as simple as that.”
The Chrisley family fell into more financial drama in August 2019 when they turned themselves in for tax evasion and settled. Despite facing possible jail time, the reality crew stayed positive.
“We stand in our faith and what we know is right fortunate to have the counsel we have and we’ll walk this road because we know the good Lord will take us through,” Todd said at the time. They were cleared of charges a few months later, agreeing to pay the Georgia Department of Revenue around $110,000 in October.
These days, it seems like the bulk of Todd’s income comes from Chrisley Knows Best, advertising partnerships and media opportunities from the USA show. We’ll be interested to see what happens with this famous brood in the future!