Todd Chrisley Thought About ‘Going Back’ to Prison Upon Seeing Wife Julie’s Natural Brunette Hair

Todd Chrisley is sharing new details about his reunion with wife Julie after their release from prison.

In a July 23 episode of the Chrisley Confessions 2.0 podcast, the couple sat down together to talk about their return home following their early releases from prison in May, which were made possible under a pardon from President Donald Trump.

The pair, who were indicted on 12 counts of bank and wire fraud, tax evasion and conspiracy in 2019 and went to prison in January 2023, opened up about Julie, 52, being photographed in Nashville with her brunette hair and graying roots after life behind bars.

“Was there a horrible picture that came out of me? Yeah. The way I flip that is, look at me now. People think I look even better because that horrible picture was out there to begin with,” said Julie.

“Listen, I will say, you set the bar low. You had to go nowhere but up,” responded Todd, whose comment did not please his wife of almost 30 years.

“That wasn’t very nice,” remarked Julie, but Todd, 56, doubled down on his statement. “I’m just trying to be honest. I’m not gonna lie, I first saw you, when I got out of that car, I started thinking about going back [to prison]. But then I thought, let me embrace this.”

He defended his statement further. “I mean it was a rough moment. It was a rough moment because I’d never seen you dark in my life. Julie, 30 years, I’ve never seen you with dark hair.”

Julie explained that she “didn’t have any choice” but to embrace her natural hair color because of her lack of access to a salon. Although, she managed to make things work for a little while.

“When I went to prison, my hair was blonde but it had a lot of lowlights…before I self-surrendered,” she explained. “Then, we actually had a girl that was there at the prison when I got there…she worked in the salon and she was really good and she did highlights for me. When I tell you they looked so good, it looked like I’d been to a salon on the outside.”

But then when her friend was released, Julie was left to her own devices and managed to get by with box dye purchased from the commissary. “I did that for probably a year and a half or so,” she continued.

According to her, she didn’t have much time left away from home anyway so she thought, “You know what? I’m not going color my hair anymore. I’m just going to let it grow.”

“So even these chicks in prison acknowledged you need to do something with that,” joked Todd.

Prior to her time in jail, Julie was known for her platinum blonde locks and a day after her release, her son Chase Chrisley told Entertainment Tonight that she had no plans on hitting the bleach again. However, despite her claims. Julie eventually did return to the hair she was known for.

On June 8, she was seen with her blonde hair freshened up at a Target, where fans took photos with her.

Never miss a story — sign up for PEOPLE’s free daily newsletter to stay up-to-date on the best of what PEOPLE has to offer, from celebrity news to compelling human interest stories. 

Later that month, Chase spoke to PEOPLE about always knowing his mom would eventually go back to her signature look.

“I knew she wasn’t going to keep it the same,” he said while discussing his new alcohol-free sparkling water Gold Drop, out July 1, then revealing the joke his dad made about Julie’s natural hair. “He said, ‘This would be the first time in my life I’ve ever been with a brunette.'”