Lindsie Chrisley made her triumph return to her Coffee Convos and The Southern Tea podcasts on Thursday, addressing for the first time her May arrest for DUI, as well as her months-long hiatus from social media and both of her podcasts. Her Coffee Convos co-host Kail Lowry— who in the past had been very outspoken about DUI— also gave her thoughts on Lindsie’s arrest and their plans for Coffee Convos going forward. The duo posted the conversation on both podcasts, starting on Coffee Convos and ending on Southern Tea.
In an episode titled, “We Almost Walked Away from Coffee Convos,” Kail spoke about why she stayed relatively silent on Lindsie’s arrest (while also bearing the brunt of the complaints about Lindsie going M.I.A.) They also revealed that they plan to restructure Coffee Convos, which has received a lot of negative feedback in recent months. Kail started the episode by telling listeners that this episode wouldn’t have their usual level of humor.
“It’s not funny. Nothing’s funny about what’s been going on in my life at all,” Lindsie stated.
She then stated that she has turned off all social media.
“While I want to acknowledge the fact that we have truly built a community that I value so much, it has been so good for me to step away from the noise,” she said.
Here, The Ashley has broken down some of the most-interesting parts of the podcast episodes in regard to Lindsie’s arrest and Coffee Convos‘ fate.
On Lindsie’s arrest:
The Ashley broke the news back in May of Lindsie’s arrest, revealing that the former ‘Chrisley Knows Best’ star was charged with DUI, Attempting to Elude, Reckless Driving, Improper Passing, and Speeding. Lindsie initially tried to explain away the arrest as if it wasn’t a big deal— stating that she simply swerved to dodge an animal on the road (or something). However, the police incident report revealed that Lindsie was allegedly clocked going almost 90 mph, fled from cops when they tried to pull her over, and that she smelled of alcohol and was slurring her words.
This episode marked the first time since making her weird “animal swerve” statement to TMZ right after her arrest that Lindsie has addressed the DUI and arrest.
“My arrest, again that is an ongoing legal matter,” she said on The Southern Tea. “What I can say on it right now is that I’ve taken this very seriously. I have to focus on, at this point, moving forward, growing and letting the legal process run its course and respecting that process.”
“This has allowed me to step back and reflect,” Lindsie said later. “And I do think that this was kind of like a hard-stop moment for me to be like, ‘Okay everything needs to get in line and s**t needs to be gotten in order because you cannot continue going down the path of operating off of heartbreak and betrayal and lack of confidence. Like, you cannot continue carrying that every single day because I’m just going to sit in it.’ And I think I’ve sat in it long enough.
“Not to make light of anything, but it was a great time-out for me,” Lindsie added.
Kail— who has been very vocal in the past regarding people who get DUIs— also offered her thoughts.
“I know I’ve told you this privately, but what I also want the listeners to know is, you know I’m deeply affected by alcohol and drunk driving as my mom drove with me drunk all the time,” Kail said. “And I told the listeners, I don’t know if you were drunk or not. I only can go off of what you’ve told me…”
“I want that to be clear, but I also want it to be clear that I do not think that a DUI or a DUI less safe would be the end all, be all of this podcast or our friendship or my support for you…ultimately, I don’t hate you for it,” Kail said.
(The Ashley will save you the Google: a “DUI less safe” means that Lindsie didn’t take any tests to confirm the officer’s suspicions that she was under the influence; therefore, the charge was based on the officer’s observations that she was under the influence to an extent that it is less safe for the person to drive.)
Kail clarified that, while it was her decision to drop Lindsie from her live tour, it was not because she got a DUI. She stated that she—and Lindsie— felt it would not be appropriate for Lindsie to be on sabbatical from the podcast while appearing at fun live events.
“I was trying to be mindful of what you were going through,” Kail said. “And that is why it was decided for you not to come on tour— not because of the DUI less safe.”
Lindsie read a statement on Coffee Convos she had prepared during her hiatus.
“Over the last five years, I have experienced some of the most challenging, traumatic, and transformative moments of my life,” Lindsie’s statement began. “From family estrangement, divorce, navigating legal matters, to deeply personal challenges. Much of the last several years of my life have unfolded in ways that I could have never predicted and all under intense and ongoing scrutiny through a very public lens. I have faced circumstances that have tested my strength, my relationships with people that I love and respect, and with God. My sense of self, my mental health, and well-being have been challenged in ways that cannot be measured.
“Through those experiences and unique challenges, I have learned that I can no longer do this alone or in silence,” she continued. “I’ve learned that I do not have to put on a brave face and pretend like all of these things aren’t a giant weight that I carry. I sit back and reflect on everything that has happened and the choices that have brought me to today and know that I am committed to personal growth with the help of a support system, even when the path at this point is unclear.”
Lindsie then tearfully stated that the last several years of her lives have been “lived at a level of stress and uncertainity that most people do not live in a lifetime.
“Those experiences had led me to where I am now,” the statement that ChatGPT Lindsie wrote reads. “I’m determined to be a stronger, more self-aware, resilient, accountable, and authentic person for those around me, my loved ones, and my child. As I move into this next chapter, my focus is not on revisiting what has brought me to this point, but on embracing what I have learned from it. I am grateful for the lessons, committed to continued growth, and looking forward to what lies ahead.”
Kail defended Lindsie against claims that she has chosen to live in the public eye.
“People are going to say,’ Well you live your life in the public eye.’ I want to acknowledge the fact that we grew up in the public eye and so it’s really hard even if we wanted to step away from it,” Kail said. “People would still be [like], ‘Well, where are they now?’ and so people would still dig. It wouldn’t matter if we removed ourselves from the entirety of the Internet right now, people would still dig…”
“…even if I stepped away, people still follow my family in the last name, and that’s just the reality of the situation,” Lindsie added. “So why would I do that to myself? Because I love what I do.”
On the “eating oysters” backlash:
Lindsie and Kail addressed a situation that caused fans a lot of anger, resulting in plenty of negative comments that Kail was left to deal with.
During one of the first stops of Kail’s live tour, her co-host Becky Hayter decided to Facetime Lindsie while on-stage. Lindsie answered and told everyone that she was currently at the beach, eating oysters. Fans began to speculate that Lindsie was in rehab and/or not taking her arrest seriously.
@cia.ra.mar.ie Welfare check on @Lindsie Chrisley! 🩷 @Kail Lowry #fatherlessbehavior ♬ original sound – cia.ra.mar.ie
Lindsie gave more context about that day.
“I had decided to take [my son] Jackson on a beach trip during my time off,” Lindsie said. “I was at dinner, eating oysters. Jackson was playing in the bay, catching fish. We were having a great time, and I want people to understand that by no means am I trying to escape reality of things that have transpired, but also I’m allowed to take the time to do the things that I need to do to heal.”
“…Chances are if you FaceTime me or Becky FaceTimes me, I would immediately answer,” Lindsie said. “And I was just sitting eating oysters and the next thing I know, it’s, you know, [people are saying I’m] potentially in a rehab… you should have seen some of the theories that were going on where I was because I just disappeared off of the face of the earth. And it’s like, no, I am taking time to make changes in my life that need to be made and to positively direct myself and reflect.”
Kail said she was very confused by the backlash those comments received.
“If I would have thought that that was a bad idea or even thought about the backlash, I would have told her not to call you. But I genuinely didn’t know that there would have been anything wrong with that,” Kail said, before addressing the haters. “Y’all can go f**k yourselves because life lives, and like I said, both things can be true. You can have f**ked up moments in your life and also go to the f**king beach.”
On Lindsie going on hiatus from the podcast:
Over the last week or so, Kail started responding to angry comments left on the podcast’s Instagram, telling people she would not be addressing Lindsie’s situation until Lindsie was ready to do so herself.
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“I wanted them to know that you would be coming back on your own time and no amount of upset listeners would bring you back for any reason,” Kail said. “You need to do it on your own time and you need to be able to say everything that you want to say.”
“…And I want people to understand that while, again, this is a form of entertainment for you, this is our real lives,” Lindsie added. “And if you’re allowed to process things in your real lives, understand that we should be able to have that grace as well.”
Lindsie explained that it was Kail who suggested Lindsie take a break from public life following her DUI and other recent legal issues. (In April, Lindsie’s now-ex-boyfriend David Landsman was charged with domestic battery and assault against her. Both filed for restraining orders against the other, but eventually agreed to a mutual no-contact order.)
“There were conversations about six weeks ago that Kail made a point, as a friend, to say, ‘You need to take a step back and reevaluate and emotionally get yourself right,'” Lindsie said. “And I think that’s so fair and respectable. However, it wasn’t a decision that I necessarily wanted to do. It was a decision that needed to be made. And I could not make that decision on my own…sometimes you need somebody to give you that extra push. And so I do think that it was needed for sure.”
“I just think the amount of things that have transpired in such a short period of time… from January to now and we’re in July and the amount of things that have unfolded is just crazy,” Lindsie continued. “And it feels like it was just one thing after the next thing, after the next thing. And I feel like I could never truly get caught up. And I have taken the last five weeks to reflect on a lot of things.”
On deciding whether or not to end the podcast:
Kail stated that she and Lindsie were dodging questions about the podcast’s future because they weren’t sure if they would continue on with it.
“I didn’t have answers because, truthfully, Lindsie and I didn’t think this podcast would continue,” Kail said. “We considered not moving forward with Coffee Convos podcast at all.”
“And that didn’t have anything to do with the friendship,” Lindsie added. “I think that there have just been so many things that have happened and listening to the noise and knowing that we want to make a change and knowing that we’re not in the same place that we were 10 years ago when we started this podcast.”
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Kail went on to state that she and Lindsie knew even before the arrest that they needed to restructure Coffee Convos, but that the DUI (and its aftermath) “opened our eyes to what was already going on.”
“There’s a lot … of changes we wanted to make prior to this but we weren’t fully invested in doing that. We were kind of just kept putting it on the back burner and so this opened our eyes and I think that we all needed this as a wake-up call as well,” Kail said.
On their fight regarding Lindsie’s return episode:
Lindsie then addressed why she was backstage at the Anaheim, California, stop of Kail’s Fatherless Behavior live tour. (Kail posted a photo of Lindsie on her Instagram Story, but Lindsie did not appear on-stage.)
“People saw on your TikTok story or Facebook story that I was in Anaheim,” Lindsie said. “And I think it’s fair to acknowledge the fact that I was. I was at the venue for the date of that tour date. However, I did not see any fans; I did not interact with any fans. There was no intention of me doing that.”
Lindsie stated that she met with Kail in Anaheim to discuss how they wanted to handle Lindsie’s “comeback episode.” Apparently, there are now “other people” involved in the process, and things did not go well at the meeting.
“We have somebody kind of on the back end now that is watching, walking us through a lot of different things and helping us make the hard decisions that we need to make,” Lindsie said.
“We were not completely aligned on the creative direction, on how we wanted to address this or what we wanted to do,” Lindsie continued. “And so because of that, there were very hard conversations, some nice words not shared, not the proudest moment for me, for sure. But I don’t think that we would be sitting in this room now or possibly ever if that didn’t happen.
“I mean it sucks one of us was stone-faced and one of us was crying…” Lindsie said, adding that Kail was the one crying “like a baby.”
On the direction the podcast will go:
Kail said that, going forward, she and Lindsie will try to stop “breadcrumbing” (i.e. purposely being cryptic by releasing a little bit of information, but not the whole story). She also promised to put a stop to the baby daddy bashing on Coffee Convos. (As fans know, Kail has four baby daddiii, while Lindsie has one.)
“We don’t want to do the breadcrumbing anymore,” Kail said. “We don’t want to talk about something and then it’s kind of like, you know, we’re not being fully honest about it time. We don’t want to have stale content and everyone gets frustrated about what we’re saying and talk[ing] about toxic things and baby daddies and ex-husbands.
“We want to talk about the fathers of our children in respectful ways and when it’s relevant and healthy and maybe helpful to somebody that’s listening, right?” Kail continued.
“We want to make good choices, but along the way, you have to understand that we are still human and we’re going to probably make mistakes still, even with a new structure and a new format,” Kail said.
Kail and Lindsie stated that they are still unsure on the new direction of the podcast.
“Kail and I have had many disagreements over the last five weeks,” Lindsie said. “It kind of reached a head last week…”
They have apparently decided to release five episodes of Coffee Convos that were recorded before Lindsie’s arrest in May.
“After those five episodes are released, the sixth episode will be a completely new format of Coffee Convos podcast,” Kail said, adding that they are considering changing the podcast’s name. “We are still not fully aligned on whether or not we’re renaming the podcast itself or not. We don’t drink coffee— I do, she doesn’t— and so far, up until this point, we have not been ‘safe for work’ and I don’t think that these are really ‘coffee conversations,’ so, we’ll see. That’s to be decided.”
They also stated that they plan to stop with a lot of the juvenile content (i.e. talking about pooping themselves, etc.)
Kail and Lindsie said that, whatever they do choose to speak about, they will do it completely.
“This podcast is no longer for us to come on here and just, you know, I guess the word I use is pussyfoot, like pussyfoot around stuff,” Lindsie said. “If we’re going to [talk about] something then we need to come with our whole chest and do it, and if not then we need to leave it at home.”
“I agree,” Kail added. “I don’t want to breadcrumb. I don’t want to bring up things we can’t talk about, and I want to only talk about things that I can talk about in full.”
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