Todd Chrisley says he never wanted his daughter Savannah to marry her husband, Jason Galanis, and he told her so directly before she went through with it anyway.
The 57-year-old businessman made the admission on Monday’s episode of the “Unlocked with Savannah Chrisley” podcast, pointing to the 27-year age gap between his 29-year-old daughter and the 56-year-old Galanis.
“Jason is not who I would have chosen for my daughter,” Todd said on the show.
“Well, no, because there’s a massive age gap,” Savannah agreed.
Todd recalled the moment Savannah first told him about the relationship. “I remember the look on your face sitting in the pool house that day, when you told me, and I said, ‘Let me stop you,'” he said.
Savannah called the moment “bad.” Todd said he cut her off before she could explain further. “I said, ‘Let me stop you … don’t tell me anything because I am not interested in hearing it,'” he recalled telling her.
“If that is what you have chosen to do with your life, you need to keep it separate to my life because I am not condoning my daughter marrying someone or being tied up with someone that’s my age, and I saw the hurt,” Todd said.
Savannah lightened the moment by bringing up the 32-year age gap between former White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt and her husband, Nicholas Riccio. “We’re good,” she said of her own relationship with Galanis.
Todd had a one-liner of his own: “Folks, you know what shape the world’s in when these girls are chasing each other to the assisted living.”
He also acknowledged the pain his early disapproval caused his daughter, saying he saw a look on her face that suggested, “Is he really saying this to me after everything I’ve done?”
Despite his initial objections, Todd now says he’s come around. He credited Galanis with helping Savannah find stability, saying he has watched him “create a safe area for you to become happy within yourself” every day. Todd also said Galanis “worships” Savannah and agreed he’s a “fool” over her.
A secret wedding and a buried identity
News broke on Oct. 29 that Savannah and Galanis had secretly married in July at Cayman Islands Baptist Church — just days after the couple went public with their relationship and announced they were expecting their first child.
When Savannah first revealed the pregnancy, she withheld Galanis’ identity, referring to him only as “J” in an Instagram post. He was later identified as a convicted fraudster who served time at the same Florida facility, Federal Prison Camp, as Savannah’s father, after receiving a 14-year sentence in September 2020.
Galanis had his sentence commuted by President Trump in March 2025. Todd and his wife, Julie Chrisley, were separately pardoned by Trump in May 2025 for their own bank fraud and tax evasion convictions.
