Todd Chrisley's 'secret' ex-wife claims he 'stripped her naked and battered her'
Todd Chrisley is all about control: parental control. While the Osbournes gloried in chaos and the Kardashians are a tangle of relationships and spending, ‘Chrisley Knows Best,’ is as much personal mantra as show title for the head of reality TV’s latest star family.
With his camp demeanor, acid tongue and relentlessly pristine appearance the self-styled Patriarch of Perfection’s obsessive micromanaging is played for laughs as he exerts his will on wife Julie, 41, and his five children – Lindsie, 24, Kyle, 23, Chase,17, Savannah,16 and Grayson, 7 - in a show that is part soap-opera, part sit-com.
But Teresa Terry isn’t smiling. Because the reality she experienced was a world away from the humorous version played out on TV. She is a woman Chrisley has tried to erase entirely from the public version of his life. She is his first wife, the mother of Lindsie and Kyle and, until now, Todd Chrisley’s best kept secret.
Bride of Chrisleystein: Todd's first wife Teresa Terry says she knows how dark the reality behind Chrisley Knows Best really is. Teresa was 19 and Todd was 21 when she became pregnant with daughter Lindsie and the couple married
Broken: Teresa has not spoken to Todd since December, when he 'went crazy' after learning that she let Angelia, son Kyle's ex, and their one-year-old baby Chloe stay at Teresa's house at Thanksgiving
Now, speaking for the first time in an exclusive interview with MailOnline, Teresa has revealed the truth about her seven-year marriage to Chrisley and the acrimonious end that saw her bring a domestic violence case against the 45-year-old reality TV star.
In court documents seen by MailOnline, Chrisley is accused of waging a 'campaign of mental and physical abuse,' of 'battering' his ex-wife multiple times, once with 'his closed fist' after stripping her naked. In a string of allegations, all hotly contested by Chrisley, it is claimed that he wielded a knife and threatened to kill her and that, on one occasion, she witnessed him beating his own mother.
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ShareBut though she claimed she was left fearing for her life and described him as ‘more vindictive than you could possibly imagine,’ Teresa insisted that she knows Chrisley’s love for his children is sincere - though she vehemently denied that he was ever granted full custody.
And nineteen years after their ulgy divorce, she said she feared for Chrisley’s well-being following the revelation that the TV star is bankrupt and $50million in debt.
She said, ‘I think it would be difficult for anybody to lose that much but his philosophy is, “He who has the gold makes the rules.” He really believes that.
‘I don’t know how he’ll function without his money. I think his control mechanisms drive him and if there’s something he can’t control…I’d be fearful for him and of him.’
Pausing she added, ‘I don’t know what happened to Todd really. I’ve known him a very long time and I know that he’s not all bad. There’s good in him. He can be very witty and fun company, but if he doesn’t get what he wants you’d better believe there will be consequences.’
Behind the smiles: Everything had to be perfect, says Teresa. 'I had two small kids and there could be no toys out, everything had to be picture perfect like a show-room'
Today Teresa, 43, lives with her second husband, their two children ages 11 and eight, and four grandchildren, in rural Oklahoma. But she was a 17-year-old High School student in Westminster, South Carolina when she fell for 19-year-old Todd Chrisley.
His family home was a social hub where friends would hang out after school and at weekends. Chrisley’s mother, Faye – a familiar figure to fans of the show – cooked for them all.
Teresa said, ‘It was all very southern, very laid back, eating meals with family that sort of thing. Todd and I would go to the movies, hang out. He was never one for big crowds. He always belonged somewhere else.
‘He carried himself different. He always wanted to wear the latest fashions, most of the people we went to school with were happy to wear T-shirts and jeans. He wanted to get his clothes at Neiman Marcus.
‘His parents were just regular middle-class people. I don’t know where it came from but I guess he just always wanted something different. I don’t think that’s necessarily a bad thing.’
As a youth Chrisley loved soap-operas and was infatuated with TV, according to Teresa. He spoke of wanting to be a model and loved interior decorating.
Blended: Lindsie and Kyle chill with their younger step siblings from Teresa's second marriage. Kyle remains close with Teresa but Lindsie, who has been super spoiled by her dad, is distant from her mother
Smiling she admitted: ‘I know there are reports saying that he’s gay and I can see why. But I married him and I had two children with him so obviously I don’t think he’s gay. If he comes out of the closet in the second season I’ll be shocked.’
Teresa was 19, when she got pregnant with Lindsie. Chrisley, then 21, wasn’t thrilled but he did what both thought the right thing and proposed.
Teresa said: ‘Most likely we wouldn’t have married if I hadn’t been pregnant but we did and it was a big deal. There were six attendants on both sides and even though the town where we lived wasn’t big the church was full.’
It was a difficult pregnancy with Teresa on enforced bed rest from the fourth month. ‘It was touch and go,’ she said and her young husband did all that he could to be supportive.
She said, ‘He liked real estate, that’s where he made all his money and that’s what he did from the beginning. He’d find houses, some of the ones he found dogs live in better places. He’d fix them up and make them amazing and then it was onto the next house.’
The young couple lived in each house as Chrisley transformed it. ‘It was fun,’ Teresa recalled. ‘But things don’t bother you so much when you’re young.’
Point of no return: In November 1994 Teresa had finally had enough. Todd would scream with rage one moment and not speak to her for days the next. Pushed over the edge, she filed a domestic violence complaint and moved out of the marital home
Fifteen months after the birth of their first child, Teresa had their second, son Kyle. She can’t pin point a moment when the wheels started to come off the youthful marriage. ‘We were both headstrong,’ she said. ‘He likes to control his environment. That is one part of the show that is no fiction and it drove me crazy.’
Materially the couple were comfortable but increasingly they clashed over every aspect of their daily lives.
Teresa admitted: ‘The house always had to be perfect. That drove me nuts. I had two small kids and there could be no toys out, everything had to be picture perfect like a show-room.
‘He had a mind-set that everything had a place and everything had to be in place at all times. He applied that to people as well.
‘I like to put on a ball cap, put my hair in a ponytail and go out. But with him your hair always had to be fixed and you had to be dressed to the tens. I grew tired of being constantly corrected and I would run my mouth.’
The couple separated multiple times across what Teresa described as a turbulent marriage. Then, in November 1994 Teresa had finally had enough of living in a household where she could not do right for doing wrong, where here husband would scream with rage one moment and not speak to her for days the next.
Top chef: In high school Todd's family home was a social hub, Teresa recalled, where friends would hang out after school and weekends. Chrisley's mother, Faye, a familiar figure to fans of the show cooked for them all
Pushed over the edge, she filed a domestic violence complaint and moved out of the marital home, this time for good.
In that case she alleged that in December 1992, 'while intoxicated,' Chrisley, destroyed her personal property 'and battered his mother' and Teresa. She claimed that on or about October 21, 1994, he 'battered' her while she was driving until she pulled over and ran away. When she went home to pick up some belongings she claimed he, 'stripped her of all her jeweley' and threw her out of the marital home, 'until he was tired of caring for the children.'
She claimed that on 2 November he 'wielded a knife threatening to kill her' and that she fled to a neighbor's home until she felt safe that Chrisley had left their still shared property. Three days later, she claimed he 'tore all of her clothes, including her undergarments, from her body and battered her using his closed fist.'
Court documents state, 'The beating causing contusions and lacerations on her lips and mouth. Plaintiff (Teresa) attempted to call the police, however the Defendant (Chrisley) threatened to kill her if she reported the incident.'
When Teresa finally left the marital home, she took Kyle, then three years old, and intended to collect five-year-old Lindsie who was with Chrisley’s parents at the time.
She said, ‘I don’t remember why Lindsie was there but when I went to get her he wouldn’t let me have her.’
She filed a criminal complaint against Chrisley alleging the 'unlawful abduction' on 8 November 1994.
Visibly upset at the memory Teresa said, ’It was hard but I did get her back. She was gone about two months. She’s old enough to remember.’
Tough love: Teresa filed for divorce from Todd in April of 1995. Kyle, here with daughter Chloe, suffered most from the tumult in his parents' relationship according to Teresa
The divorce wasn’t finalised until 1996 with each side fighting for full custody of the children and after much to and fro Teresa dropped the domestic violence case. In his own testimony Chrisley - who was accused of deliberately evading court officers who attempted to serve him - denied every allegation and maintained that he had never been physically violent to his wife or mother.
Chrisley and Teresa were granted joint physical and legal custody. But the relationship was further soured by the fact that Teresa had met the man who became her second husband before the ink was dry on her permanent severance from Chrisley.
'You just cannot imagine how vindictive he can be....Todd has a way of getting what he wants'
-Teresa Terry
Chrisley, who married wife of 18 years Julie, then nine months pregnant with Chase, in May 1996 just one month after the divorce was finalised, did not take kindly to losing Teresa whatever his own circumstances.
Teresa moved into a gated community in Atlanta with her new partner and children. But, she said, Chrisley hired a private detective to track her down.
According to Teresa she was at home one night when she noticed a red laser trained on the house and saw Chrisley standing in front of the property. The incident is also documented in court papers seen by MailOnline.
‘I really thought I was fixing to get shot,’ she said. But her initial relief on realizing that Chrisley was filming her quickly gave way to anger and shock.
Worse was to come. She said, ‘He sent the footage to a television special on cheating wives. The first I knew of it was when my parents called because they’d seen it on TV.
‘You just cannot imagine how vindictive he can be.’
It is a trait, she said, she has witnessed again and again, often played out through wrangles over custody of their children.
Financial straits: Teresa fears for Chrisley's well-being following the revelation that the TV star is bankrupt and $50million in debt
Chrisley famously filed for bankruptcy in August 2012 and his company lost a hugely lucrative contract with Fanny Mae three months later, but in the months following his divorce from Teresa his fortune boomed and his real estate ventures raked in millions.
Materially he could offer his children far more than their mother ever could. Teresa had moved back to South Carolina to make sharing physical custody with her ex an easier prospect. But in 2000 Chrisley moved to Atlanta and began a second custody battle which lasted close to two years.
In 2002 the Superior Court of Fulton County, Georgia granted Teresa and Chrisley shared legal custody of Lindsie and Kyle. But it was agreed that they would go to school in Atlanta and therefore have Chrisley’s home in Atlanta as their primary residence. In a painstakingly hammered out agreement Teresa would have them three weekends out of four and for vacations and public holidays in every even year. That arrangement would flip in Chrisley’s favour in odd years.
‘Of course that never happened,’ she said. ‘Todd has a way of getting what he wants.’
If the kids misbehaved, she said, Chrisley withheld their weekends with their mother by way of punishment. Then, within months of the agreement being signed, he moved to California.
She said, ‘It was motivated purely by spite. Of course it’s an exciting thought moving to California. Lindsie and Kyle were old enough to say what they wanted. Lindsie wanted to go with her father, Kyle didn’t, but we didn’t want to split them up.
‘Todd said he was going to California for five years. In the end he was back within three months so I don’t know what happened there.’
Then, in a further breath-taking move the multi-millionaire Chrisley sued his ex-wife for $1million in child support, just two years ago. He lost the case, but if stress and upset was what he sought then he got what he wanted.
According to Teresa, Kyle suffered most from the tumult in his parents’ relationship.In ‘Chrisley Knows Best’ Kyle is billed as the child who ‘marches to nobody’s beat but his own.’ But, Teresa said, there is no room for rebellion in Chrisley’s world.
No regrets: In spite of all the trials and tribulations of her marriage to Todd, Teresa does not look back. Sighing Teresa said, 'It's been a wild ride I'll tell you that. But I don't regret marrying Todd because I sure don't regret my children'
Kyle’s battles with drugs and alcohol have been very publicly aired thanks to his bit part in the family circus of which his father is both self-appointed ringmaster and star-turn.
She said, ‘Kyle has had his issues. He’s struggled with anger and still does. He’s been in and out of rehab facilities and sometimes I think they cause more problems than they’ve solved.
‘Hindsight is 20/20. He could put the kids through private school and I could never do that. He gave Lindsie a Mercedes for her 16th. I gave Lindsie a Tiffany bracelet.
‘But if I were to say whether I think the money has been good for my kids I don’t know. I think Lindsie will always be okay, she’s got a good head on her. But I don’t think it’s been good for Kyle.
‘Lindsie has always been her dad’s idea of the perfect child – apart from when she eloped with her husband, Will, who Todd does not like.
‘But Kyle has been punished for everything down the years.’
Teresa speaks to Kyle every day but her relationship with Lindsie is ‘strained.’ They no longer talk though she sends her daughter texts to let her know she’s thinking of her and mails her grandson, Lindsie’s son, Jackson, Christmas and birthday gifts.
She has not spoken with Chrisley since December when he ‘went crazy’ on learning that she had allowed Angela, Kyle’s ex and the mother of his one-year-old daughter, Chloe, to her house at Thanksgiving. At the time Chrisley was seeking custody of the child and viewed the move as treacherous.
Sighing Teresa said, ‘It’s been a wild ride I’ll tell you that. But I don’t regret marrying Todd because I sure don’t regret my children.’
‘Chrisley Knows Best,’ has just been signed for a second season of 12 episodes. Teresa will not be one of the millions watching to see how the producers address the difficult matter of Chrisley’s dwindling fortunes.
According to Teresa, ‘Sometimes I think he doesn’t realize the way he is. He’s so used to being controlling and vindictive that he doesn’t even see it anymore.
She added, ‘He’s held on so tight to everything for so long but I don’t believe he’s happy at all. I think he has moments when he is but if somebody is truly happy they don’t have to keep buying things to fill the emptiness.
‘And now that the strings are unravelling, I’m honestly fearful of what he might do when it all unwinds.’
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