The reality television star Todd Chrisley spoke out this week to open up about his “emotional battle” with his estranged daughter Lindsie, who recently announced that she is going through a divorce from husband Will Campbell.

“We haven’t sat down with anyone. You’re the first interview we’ve given since all of this,” Todd told Entertainment Tonight as he sat with his wife Julie. “We placed no parameters on this interview. We said, ‘Ask us whatever you want to ask us.'”

When asked if he had heard from Lindsie since she announced her divorce last month, Todd said, “I received a text message from Lindsie about two weeks ago. I turned that over to our attorneys because we don’t feel that it’s safe to communicate. Every time that I’ve done that it’s been twisted and turned, and in the position we’re in, we can’t run that risk.”

“I am sad about the situation. I’m sad that my daughter chose to make decisions that she’s made in her life,” he added. “But when you get married, marriage is supposed to be forever and you’re supposed to have a commitment to each other.”

Todd and Julie have previously accused Lindsie of reporting them to the government for tax evasion, a claim that she has denied. Lindsie has then claimed that her father tried to blackmail her with a sex tape, something that he has denied.

“She is my daughter and I love her. There was just some kind of emotional battle that Lindsie has had within herself, and jealousy amongst her siblings,” Todd alleged. “It started out with Savannah having way more social media followers, and then [she] wasn’t getting enough time on the show. … Lindsie wasn’t, at that time, willing to allow the cameras into her personal life. She wouldn’t tell the world anything.”

Savannah is Todd and Julie’s younger daughter, who is estranged from Lindsie as well.

“There was never any extortion, that was all used for headlines. That was used to gain social media following,” the “Christley Knows Best” star continued. “She’s our daughter, and I will tell you that the anger was there for a long time. Revenge and anger belongs to the devil. So I walked with the devil. I was dancing with the devil there for a minute.”

“God allowed me to get back into my faith … I had to remember that I am a father first,” Todd added. “When you have children and you discipline your children, the world’s not gonna see that. But when Todd Chrisley disciplines his children, it’s a headline.”

Lindsie fired back through a spokesperson who said that she reached out to her father “a few weeks back” regarding “the false claims made on their podcast and not specifically about the divorce.”

“She has tried to discuss these matters personally rather than through a back and forth in the media, but since that is not being reciprocated, she feels the need to speak up and defend herself from these and further false claims,” the rep said. “In regards to the jealousy issue, there was never a jealousy issue, especially over followers or social media as far as Lindsie is concerned.”

“Lindsie very much so has a life outside of the public eye and has worked over the years to preserve that,” the statement  added. “She drove back and forth from Atlanta to Nashville for almost a year to keep filming going and ultimately decided to leave the show when it was no longer a healthy environment for her and her son.”

Todd was later asked if there was any hope of reconciling with Lindsie in the future.

“I pray to God every day. It has been the hardest thing because I don’t know where you go from that,” Todd replied. “When you’ve had a child that you have loved the way that Lindsie has been loved, and this happens. All I can do is pray that God blesses her, and God gives her peace of mind and that God restores what can be restored.”