Savannah Chrisley gets candid about mental health, says 'tried committing suicide'

Savannah Chrisley is being open about her battle with mental health difficulties and how having a reality TV show about her life affected her health.

Savannah recently talked about the toll her position on Chrisley Knows Best placed on her and her family due to their sudden prominence in a new edition of her Unlocked podcast with mental health advocate Patrick Custer.

"It really was, in a way, an acting gig. We knew we had to show up, we had to be funny, that's what we did," Savannah, 25, explained. "When we started... it was pitched to us that it would be a reality show. And then it quickly changed. I think people, production companies, networks, took advantage of my dad's ability to approach a situation with humor."

"They took advantage of that to the point to where he always had to be funny. Every situation had to be approached with humor," she said of her father, Todd Chrisley. "He's used his humor to cope with a lot of things throughout his life."

Savannah claimed that in recent years, her father had "a lot of therapy" to assist him learn how to communicate honestly rather than to divert the conversation with humour. Savannah also admitted that she had to get counselling for her own issues, which were primarily related to concerns with her self-image.

"Growing up the way that I grew up and how everything was this picture-perfect image and I had an older brother who struggled with mental illness, addiction, all of those things, and then I was on TV at 16 and I was being told what I needed to look like, what I needed to be," she recalled. "It was like it created two [versions] of me. There was someone I wanted to be and then there was someone I was being forced to be."

"We want people to see what we want them to see, especially in the south, I feel like it's just a known thing -- you keep your dirty laundry inside. No one else is to know about it, no one else is to know about your issues," she continued. "Having a level of pride and not wanting anyone to think you're anything other than perfect creates this standard of you can't screw up, you can't make a mistake, everything has to be perfect."

Savannah elucidated that she sometimes still deals with mental traumas in her day-to-day life, sharing, "I definitely suffer from high-functioning depression."

Mental health and its issues are something the actress is dealing since her teenage years, when she once tried suicide at age "15 or 16," right before filming the first season of Chrisley Knows Best "was about to start."

"I didn't really have a life or death experience, but I did try committing suicide. So that potentially was maybe my life or death experience," Savannah shared. "But for me, it was more of a cry for help."

Savannah then described that her memories of this experience are ambiguous, but confessed that when she woke up in the hospital she "Even at that time, I remember lying to the doctors because I didn’t want to be held at the hospital,” she said. “I just kind of remember masking over."

And lastly the actress wants people to listen to her story and understand that "it's OK to ask the tough questions, and it's OK to take medication, and it's OK to not take it. It's whatever works best for you."

"Just ask yourself, 'Am I doing everything in my power to live the healthiest life I can possibly live?'" She added.