Todd and Julie Chrisley aren’t going to back down after their adopted daughter’s biological mom said she wants to regain custody of the 10-year-old following their prison sentencing.
“Todd and Julie are saddened by the unfortunate and misleading narrative currently being portrayed in the media regarding Chloe,” the couple told People in a statement on Wednesday.
Jessica Doyle — the family law attorney who also helped the Chrisleys with Chloe’s “formal adoption” — also claimed to the outlet that Angela Johnson’s attempts are “simply not legally correct or even valid.”
“Angela Johnson’s parental rights were terminated when she voluntarily surrendered her parental rights to Todd and Julie Chrisley on March 24, 2017,” Doyle said.
The attorney also claimed that Johnson, 31, “has had no contact with the minor child since 2015.”
“Todd and Julie Chrisley don’t just have custody of Chloe,” Doyle continued. “They are her legal parents through adoption.”
Neither Doyle nor the couple’s rep immediately returned Page Six’s request for comment.
Johnson told TMZ earlier this week that while she has “not filed any legal papers” yet, she would like to “go back to court to get Chloe back home.”
“I want her home. She deserves to be home,” she said in a tearful video. “I’m her biological mom. I didn’t walk away from her. I was pushed out of her life.”
Johnson shares Chloe with Kyle Chrisley – Todd’s son from his first marriage.
However, Todd, 53, and Julie, 47, temporarily shared custody with Johnson in 2014 when Kyle was struggling with addiction and bipolar disorder. Johnson was later arrested and the reality TV stars gained full custody three years later.
Todd and Julie’s 25-year-old daughter, Savannah Chrisley, previously said that she was granted custody of Chloe and her 16-year-old brother, Grayson, after her parents were convicted of bank fraud and tax evasion. They were sentenced to a total of 19 years in prison.