The Women of Duck Commander (26 page)

My parents, along with four other couples, founded Ouachita Christian School in 1974, so in a way it feels like home to me. Korie, Jep, and I all went to school there, and Phil taught there for a while before he started Duck Commander. Now all the Robertson cousins go there. It’s a school founded on Christian principles, and Jase and I know it is a place that affirms the values we have for our family. Everyone there treats us as though we are regular moms and dads—which, of course, we are—so we appreciate that. We can attend Reed’s home football games and sit right there in the stands with the other fans and families, and no one bothers us. Even on the road at away games, our friends help keep us as anonymous as possible so we can enjoy being just parents. Sometimes it works; sometimes
it doesn’t. We try to accommodate as many autograph and picture requests as possible before and after those games and during halftime. But when Reed steps onto the field, we are there in full support of him and his teammates, and autographs have to wait.

O
UR
S
ACRED
S
PACE

One thing that really surprised me, and probably our whole family, after our show started was that people we did not even know came to our church to try to see us or to ask for autographs. I have sung on our church’s praise team almost every Sunday for more than twenty-two years, and I love doing it. One Sunday after a very prayerful song, someone yelled from the audience, “Go, Missy!” I turned three shades of red, I’m sure. As our praise leader went right into the next song, a couple of men made their way over to where that person was sitting in order to defuse any potential problems. Nothing else happened, but obviously, the somber moment was lost, and the mood became very awkward and a bit tense.

We appreciate the interest in our family, but being able to attend services without distractions is important to us. We go to church to worship God and for fellowship with our longtime friends—people who knew us and loved us before our faces were ever seen on TV. We hope everyone who visits our church is blessed by being there, and we really appreciate all the people who respect us and respect our church family by allowing us to attend church uninterrupted.

We know this is only a season in our lives. It will not always be like this. One day, maybe sooner than we think, we will go back
to being regular church members in a regular church on a regular Sunday morning. We might even miss being asked to take a picture during “meet and greet.” Well, maybe “miss” is too strong of a word. Our church family is very special. Our services are incredible and our a cappella singing is inspiringly beautiful. People are completely uplifted when they visit our congregation, and it honestly has nothing to do with us. We are no more important than anyone else there. Every member makes it special. That’s what is so great about God’s family. Every part has a purpose—television star or not.

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WE’VE COME A LONG WAY, BABY!

Miss Kay

After the way I grew up and all the hard times Phil and I have been through, who would have ever dreamed I would write about what it’s like to live in the limelight? Back in the days when I lived in a trailer with three little boys, barely able to keep the lights on, who would have imagined I would ever be talking about being famous? Who would have thought I would have trouble finding a parking space at the Duck Commander office because so many fans had come to see it? Not me!

I appreciate everything
Duck Dynasty
has enabled us to do, but I have to say, there are both good and bad parts to it. Some things in our lives have gotten easier because of it, but others have gotten harder. For example, I love the fact that some of my grandchildren have opportunities to speak and can share their faith with large audiences. Also, I’m so glad my children are able to pay for their homes—that makes me really proud. But I am sorry for the
freedom I have lost in my schedule and the freedom I have lost to be an ordinary, unknown person who just loves to cook and enjoy her family. I don’t get to do family dinners the way I want to anymore. They have become much more structured, and a lot of times, we do them with a full television crew in my kitchen!

S
O
M
ANY
V
ISITORS

I remember the carefree days when I could open my door on a beautiful morning and go outside in my pajamas without anyone seeing me. That almost never happens anymore, and I miss those times! Oh, I still go outside in my pajamas, but there’s often someone standing nearby ready to snap my photo the second I go out the door. I have to pay a lot more attention to the way I look than I used to. I have to do my hair and my makeup, and I have to wear decent clothes, because every time I walk out, there’s a good chance I will have my picture taken many times before I get back home.

I was raised on the Golden Rule: “So in everything, do to others what you would have them do to you” (Matthew 7:12). I do my best to live by those words, so when I get ready to say or do something that involves others, I try to ask myself if I would want them to do to me what I am about to do. I just wonder if the people who stand in my front yard with cameras flashing would want me standing in their yards taking pictures of them in their pajamas. Maybe only if I had a plate of hot biscuits to share!

I have to draw a line when I go out with my grandchildren to do something special. I have to tell people nicely that I cannot stop
for a photo right then. Again, if they were out trying to have a special day with their grandchildren, I do not think they would want strangers trying to take pictures.

W
E
N
EVER
D
REAMED
 . . .

When Phil and I moved to the river many years ago, we never in our wildest dreams thought we would have to put up a fence or a gate just to maintain a little privacy. We live so far out of town that we were totally shocked when people first started coming to our house trying to catch a glimpse of us. They came early in the morning, sometimes before I was even out of bed, and they came as late as eleven or twelve o’clock at night. Some of them even knocked on our door!

We eventually had to get a fence and a gate; this really went against our nature, because we have always wanted our home to be a warm and welcoming place for all our friends and family. We love to have people over, but when people we’d never even met started inviting themselves and showing up at all hours, we had to do something in order to maintain the privacy we have left. I need my home to be a safe haven, just like most other women do. And, like most people, I want to live in a place where my grandchildren and my family can be safe. I don’t think that’s too much to ask.

If we ever forget, in the midst of the fame, where we have come from, then I pray God will take it all away from us and move us right back to where we were in the beginning. I really do. I think a lot of us in the family feel that way. We do not want everything the show
has done for us to change us in a bad way. Occasionally, Alan gets us together for a reality check. He talks to us about our lives, about how we are doing, and about not allowing our “stardom” to affect us negatively.

I am thankful for the great opportunities we have been given because of the show. Sometimes we get to stay in really nice hotels and when that happens, I try as hard as I can to be friendly and to talk enthusiastically to everyone. I do not care if a person is a housekeeper, a maintenance worker, a concierge, or the owner of the whole hotel; I want to give everyone the same kind of attention and kindness. Everywhere we go, we see people who are working hard. I know what many of them are going through. I have not forgotten what it’s like to struggle to make a living—and I pray I never do forget.

D
ON’T
M
AKE
M
OMMA
M
AD

There are only a few things in life that make me really, really angry. One of them is when people struggle in their marriages and refuse to fight for them, but I have already mentioned that. Another thing that infuriates me—and embarrasses me so much for the people who do it—is when women nearly fall all over my sons flirting with them. They try some of the most disgraceful things to catch Willie’s, Jase’s, or Jep’s attention. Some of the behavior I have seen toward my sons—and even toward Phil and Si—is
just shameful! I don’t understand how people can let themselves act that way, and as a woman, I really am humiliated when other women do such things.

I realize all the boys are good-looking, and I know what great men they are, but
they’re taken
. A lot of people don’t respect the vows and commitments of marriage anymore and simply do not have any self-respect. They do not seem to have any reservation at all about flirting with men they know to be married. When people don’t honor the fact that each of my sons already has the woman he has chosen, I want to say, “Come on! These boys are happily married men. Go find your own duck hunter!”

This kind of thing did not happen before we went on television, and I hate to see it happening now. As much as I enjoy interacting with our fans and hearing stories about the positive impact
Duck Dynasty
has had on so many people, I will never be okay with women chasing after my sons.

A G
REAT
W
AY TO
S
HARE
O
UR
F
AITH

Though I don’t like the flirtatiousness the boys have to deal with at times, I am grateful that the show gives us a way to share our faith and our values with millions of people. All that really happened to us is that some people at a television network saw something in us, liked us, thought we were funny, and realized we could make money for them. The entertainment industry is a very secular environment, but when we had a chance to get involved in it, we did and used it to share our faith.

I think about Phil’s journey to faith in Christ. For many years, his journey through life was painful for him, for me, and for the boys. We prayed and prayed for him, and when he repented and got baptized, we were so happy we could hardly stand it. That man had a 100 percent turnaround in his life. And now, he tells everyone about it. He is the most courageous Christian I have ever known. He will share his faith with absolutely anyone. I am so glad God has given him—and all of us—a chance to do that in such a big way. The inconveniences and the sacrifices we make in order to have this opportunity are worth it.

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