Todd and Julie Chrisley Break Silence on Nic Kerdiles’ Death 2 Years After Crash
Todd Chrisley and Julie Chrisley spoke out for the first time following the death of their daughter Savannah Chrisley’s ex-fiancé Nic Kerdiles in 2023 following a motorcycle accident.
Todd Chrisley and Julie Chrisley’s family will never be the same.
Almost two years after the death of their daughter Savannah Chrisley’s ex-fiancé Nic Kerdiles, the Chrisley Knows Best alums are speaking out for the first time.
“It’s been so painful for me, but I’ve had so many people send me messages on Instagram wanting to know why I haven’t discussed it,” Todd, 56, said on the Aug. 20 episode of the Chrisley Confessions 2.0 podcast. “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.”
“My heart has not healed,” he continued. “And I don’t know if it ever will heal.”
Nic died in September 2023, following a motorcycle accident in Nashville at age 29. For Todd, it was the “hardest thing” he’s ever dealt with in his life. Still, he looked back fondly at the former NHL star, who was with Savannah from 2017-2020.
“Nic Kerdiles was one of the finest, funniest, kindest young men,” he explained. “I so wanted he and Savannah to be married. I wanted grandchildren and that didn’t come to pass. But even when they broke up, I still had lunch with Nic, we’d text a million times a day.”
Todd recalled learning about Nic’s death while serving his time in a Florida prison—after being found guilty of tax evasion and other convictions—during a visit with their children Savannah, Grayson, 19, and Chloe, 12.
Danielle Del Valle/Getty Images for E3 Chophouse Nashville“Chloe ran to me and was crying,” he shared. “I said, ‘What’s wrong?’ and she [Savannah] fell into my arms, and she said, ‘He’s gone.’ I said, ‘Who’s gone?’ ‘Cause all I could think of was Chase. I said, ‘Who’s gone?’ and she said ‘Nic,’ and I remember just crumbling, I didn’t care who saw it in the waiting room.”
He added, “It was truly so surreal that I became numb, and we cried that whole visitation.”
For Julie, the reality of Nic’s death set in when she and Todd returned home from prison following presidential pardons in May.
“It was just weird to come home and him not be there,” she said. “There is no doubt in my mind that he would have picked you up. Even though he and Savannah had been apart for a few years.”
Grieving the life that Savannah and Nic could have had proved hard for Todd.
“There’s not a day that goes by that I don’t think of him,” he said through tears. “I think I still grieve for what could have been. Cause I always hoped that they would find their way back. And I think Savannah felt that they will find their way back. She has said that.”
While he loved them together, Todd shared that he wished that Nic’s legacy would have been celebrated outside of the time he spent with Savannah.
“It should have been Nic Kerdiles, former NHL player,” Todd said through tears. “He had success in his life. He was so much more than Savannah Chrisley’s fiancé, ex-fiancé, boyfriend. He was a good, decent honorable human being who loved and wanted to be loved.”
“I feel blessed and honored to know that for four and a half years, God gave us that and he felt that,” he continued. “Nic Kerdiles did not leave this earth feeling as though the Chrisleys did not love him.”
