The Southern Tea – “New Beginnings & Emotional Regression Challenges” feat. Kayla

Host: Lindsie Chrisley
Guest: Kayla
Release Date: January 21, 2026
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Episode Overview

In this heartfelt episode of The Southern Tea, Lindsie Chrisley and her friend Kayla dive deep into major changes in their personal lives and the podcast, emotional turbulence around transition and regression in children post-divorce, and the complexity of motherhood and co-parenting. The conversation freely alternates between light-hearted Southern banter, home organization chaos, and genuine vulnerability about parenting struggles, loss, and the importance of prioritizing mental health and personal growth.

Key Discussion Points and Insights

1. New Beginnings: Changes on the Podcast

• Kristen's Departure for Health Reasons:
  • Lindsie explains that Kristen, her frequent co-host, stepped back from podcast duties to focus on her health after a tumultuous year and her MS diagnosis.
  • "She has made the decision to kind of step away from the work that she was doing and that included recordings." – Lindsie [01:17]
  • Lindsie and Kayla reflect on society’s lack of time to prioritize health, emphasizing self-care.

2. Coping Mechanisms & Home Organization

• Purging as Emotional Rescue:

  • Lindsie discusses her tendency to create chaos by purging and reorganizing her house when she feels emotionally out of control.
  • "Currently right now in my garage, I probably have 30 bags of stuff that I have purged from my house over the last three days." – Lindsie [04:04]
  • Kayla relates and observes it's a way to express control when life feels disregulated.

• Funny Family Stories Around Cleaning:

  • Anecdotes about Lindsie’s nanny reorganizing her home “for her own sanity,” causing both gratitude and frustration.
  • The junk drawer debate: Lindsie loathes them, Kayla defends them as a "safety" spot for items lacking a proper home.
  • "The thought process behind a junk drawer is so diabolical." – Lindsie [06:17]

3. Kids, Chaos, and Surprises

• Jackson's Hidden Treasures:
  • Lindsie humorously recounts finding a reckless stash of snacks and wrappers under her son's sink.
  • "One time Will called me and told me that Jackson had a waffle maker under his sink." – Lindsie [10:38]
  • Her horror at the thought of food in bedrooms attracting pests.

4. The Hotel Horror & Cleanliness Rant

• Fitted Sheet Struggles and Hotel Cleanliness:

  • Both commiserate about the impossibility of folding fitted sheets and share “humbling” experiences with hotel bedding.
  • Kayla delivers the episode’s bombshell: hotel comforters aren’t laundered between guests unless visibly dirty.
  • "Did you know that the comforters at most hotels are not washed in between guests unless there's a visible stain?" – Kayla [14:58]
  • Lindsie’s visceral reaction: "And we need to band together and… make sure we leave visible stains. That’s traumatizing." – Lindsie [15:44]

• Safety Paranoia in Hotels:

  • Discussion about personal safety habits and women’s internalized fear when staying in hotels.
  • Aaron Andrews case and how it shaped Lindsie's anxiety: "The fear that I had going to hotels after the Aaron Andrews saga… the way that I was traumatized but never did anything about it." – Lindsie [19:08]

5. Parenting Through Divorce & Emotional Regression

• Jackson’s Emotional Struggles:

  • Lindsie candidly describes Jackson’s recent emotional regression as a 13-year-old—a stark change from easy adjustment during earlier years.
  • "He’s showing signs a little bit of regression… I don’t know necessarily where that’s coming from." – Lindsie [33:14]
  • She notes he’s especially quiet on “transition days.”
  • Jackson’s confession: "It’s just hard… when I’m with you, I miss dad; when I’m with dad, I miss you." – Lindsie's son, relayed by Lindsie [36:09]
  • Kayla references research that boys often experience emotional regression around ages 12-13, calling it “grief from getting older and growing up.” [34:27]

• Parenting Styles & Household Differences:

  • Lindsie describes her permissive, flexible approach vs. Will's authoritative style.
  • Challenges when these differences “spill over” between co-parenting households.
  • "When you have a child that is being parented on the other end from an authoritative… it does create sneaky kids…" – Lindsie [60:59]

6. Navigating Communication Styles & Therapy

• Conflict Avoidance vs. Confrontation:
  • Lindsie admits to being an avoidant communicator—she “pauses for years” instead of confronting issues, while Kayla is the opposite.
  • "There is power in the pause, but the pause can so easily become avoidance if you’re not careful." – Kayla [48:04]
  • They muse about whether “pre-marriage therapy” is a green or red flag, with both ultimately viewing it as a positive, especially for blended families. "Now I'm like, it's such a green flag… sometimes you just don't want to have certain hard conversations without a third party being there." – Lindsie [55:13]

7. Parenting with Blended or Parallel Households

• Blended Family Complexity:
  • Kayla explains the challenge of “outside parents” and maintaining respect across different households.
  • Lindsie observes how differences in rules, especially with food, result in “sneaky” behavior upon transitions.

8. Lighthearted Southern Life & Everyday Chaos

• Home Appliances & QVC Obsessions:

  • Lindsie jokes about her plurality of Dyson vacuums and fans, driven by Southern humidity and a love of “moving air.”
  • "If you do not have a cooling mattress, you’re doing yourself a disservice. Because the way that I've gotten the best sleep… I have questioned all of my mattress life choices before this." – Lindsie [24:02]

• Chargers Always Go Missing!:

  • Relatable rant about kids habitually stealing phone chargers; Lindsie considers engraving hers just as her dad once did.
  • "If I see you walking around this house with a charger around your neck, then I'm going to throw whatever device… away along with the charger." – Lindsie [79:25]

9. True Crime Tangent: Grave Robber Shocker

• Pennsylvania Grave Robbery Case:
  • Kayla shares a recently reported, deeply disturbing case: a man accused of robbing over 100 graves, collecting body parts at his home and in a storage unit.
  • "There’s body cam footage… his home looks like a mausoleum. It’s absolutely insane." – Kayla [65:15]
  • Both speculate about motive and psychology, with a mix of horror and morbid curiosity.
  • Lindsie, always the crime podcast host, jokes: "I want him interviewed." [70:08]

10. Technology Woes: Verizon Outage

• Kayla recounts chaos after a major Verizon outage rendered people unable to pay and communicate.
• "Society basically shut down from communication… there is a deserved explanation…" – Lindsie [74:47]
• Both bemoan the shift to phone-based payments and laugh about losing cards and relying on Five Below for cheap chargers.

Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• "Maybe I'm just like, weird. Maybe I'm crunchy." – Lindsie [00:02]
• "I am a functioning, non-functioning human being right now." – Lindsie [00:31]
• "That's diabolical. Do you?… Do you foresee yourself being one of those mothers as Jackson gets older?" – Kayla [08:59]
• "Please tell me why when I come home, everything has a new place." – Lindsie [05:08]
• "I need to ask you this… Do you think going to therapy with a partner before you’re married is a red flag…?” – Lindsie [53:02]
• "I just think it's like… you have to kind of figure out where the middle ground is. I find comfort in immediate confrontation because I'm an anxious person." – Kayla [49:31]
• "Property of Todd Chrisley on a charger is so funny to me." – Kayla [80:42]

Timestamps for Key Segments

| Segment | Timestamp | |-----------------------------------------------|----------------| | Kristen's departure & health prioritization | 00:53 – 03:44 | | Coping through purging & cleaning | 03:44 – 10:38 | | Jackson’s hidden “treasures” | 10:38 – 11:53 | | Hotel horror stories & bedding cleanliness | 13:38 – 16:56 | | Parenting through divorce & emotional regression | 32:27 – 41:00 | | Parenting styles and co-parenting challenges | 40:30 – 64:03 | | Conflict avoidance vs. confrontation | 44:46 – 49:57 | | Pre-marital therapy: green/red flag? | 53:02 – 55:47 | | True crime: grave robber case | 65:07 – 71:29 | | Verizon outage & daily technology chaos | 71:29 – 75:45 | | Charger theft saga & solutions | 76:34 – 81:52 |

Tone & Style

Lindsie and Kayla maintain a candid, relatable, and humorous Southern tone even through heavier discussions, balancing vulnerability with wit. The episode, rich in domestic detail and authentic emotion, is both a comfort listen for mothers navigating change and a relatable snapshot for anyone wrestling with the mess and beauty of everyday life.

For the full Southern experience—cleaning chaos, mothering wisdom, true crime shockers, and all—you can listen to The Southern Tea wherever you get your pods.