Lindsie Chrisley is shedding light on why she did not publicly pay tribute to sister Savannah Chrisley’s late ex-fiancé, Nic Kerdiles.
“It would almost come across, based off of the events that have taken place with myself and my sister, for me to post something because it would feel insincere,” Lindsie, 34, told Kailyn Lowry on the Thursday, September 28, episode of the reality stars’ “Coffee Convos” podcast. “And I don’t think that we should be living for what we’re posting on social media. We should be living for what we’re doing and our lives personally outside of what the public knows.”
The Chrisley Knows Best alum — who has long had a rocky relationship with Savannah, 26 — received significant backlash from followers for sharing celebratory photos from her birthday party instead of honoring Kerdiles after his death. The professional hockey player, who dated Savannah from 2017 to 2021, died on Saturday, September 23, following a motorcycle accident. He was 29 years old.
“The comments were horrific about people saying that I shouldn’t be posting happy photos when something so sad is going on,” Lindsie recalled to Lowry, 31. “And I had sad things going on on my birthday that I chose not to share these photos and had kind of taken a little social media hiatus.”
Because of the internet break, Lindsie explained, “I’ve gotten a lot of messages of people saying, ‘Are you ever going to share [your birthday photos]?’ So I shared them [on Monday, September 25] and in this comment section, it was people saying, ‘You know this is what’s going on and it’s not appropriate to be posting happy photos.’ And I just want to talk about that a little bit because I think in the world of social media people live and think that I’m living by my social media feed and that’s the only thing that’s going on in my life.”
Prior to posting the birthday pictures, Lindsie noted that she “had just made a decision that I wasn’t going to say anything publicly at all about it” because Kerdiles’ sister vocalized her disappointment that her brother’s life was being overshadowed by his connection to Savannah in the wake of his death. “She didn’t want any association to be tied back to the family and they are grieving people,” Lindsie said, while also defending Savannah’s decision to publicly mourn her late ex.
Savannah honored Kerdiles shortly after he died.
“Heaven gained the most beautiful angel today … I miss you and I love you. I’ll forever save our last messages of ‘I love you,’” she wrote via her Instagram Story on Saturday. “Please send me a sign that you’re OK. Maybe it’ll be thru [sic] a ham and cheese crepe … or pasta with white sauce … or maybe your favorite carrot cake.”
Recalling their romance, Savannah wrote, “We loved hard … and I can’t wait to ride bikes along the beaches of heaven with you one day.”
Other members of the Chrisley family spoke out about Kerdiles’ death, with Savannah’s brother Chase Chrisley writing on his Instagram Story that he “lost a brother today.”
“I know God has a plan, but man I don’t understand it today,” Chase, 27, added. “Fly high my brother and rest easy.”
It has been a trying year for the Chrisley family. Todd and Julie Chrisley reported to their respective prisons in January after being convicted of bank fraud and tax evasion, which they deny. Todd, 54, is serving out a 12-year sentence in Florida, while Julie, 50, will remain behind bars in Kentucky for seven years. (News broke earlier this month that their sentences had each been reduced by roughly two years.) Savannah was granted custody of her younger brother, Grayson Chrisley, and her niece, Chloe, in their absence.
Earlier this month, Savannah spoke about her strained relationship with Lindsie. (Todd shares oldest children Lindsie and son Kyle Chrisley with ex-wife Teresa Terry.)
The sisters “don’t speak to each other anymore,” Savannah told Nick Viall. “She and my oldest brother from my dad’s first marriage, my mom always treated them as if they were hers. They didn’t necessarily treat her the same,” she claimed.
She further alleged that Lindsie’s involvement in their parents’ court case got messy. (While Lindsie ultimately testified in favor of their dad, she previously made numerous allegations against Todd, including that she was “truly afraid” of him and that he had tried to blackmail her with footage from an alleged sex tape of her and ex Robby Hayes.)
Lindsie “got herself in a mess that she tried to find her way out of that was a difficult way to find her way out of,” Savannah claimed.
Lindsie hit back at her sister’s claims on the Thursday, September 21, episode of “Coffee Convos.”
“If [Savannah] feels the need to blame me to move forward with her life and responsibilities, that’s OK,” the podcast host said. “However, I think that it is also showing a lack of empathy for others when you act like you are the sole person that lost two parents. While I was not a part of my parents’ life in the same capacity, they’re still a loss. You can’t say, ‘Oh, well my loss is greater than your loss,’ or, ‘Your loss is greater than my loss.’ That doesn’t really apply here.”
