The Women of Duck Commander (28 page)

Phil and Willie are a lot alike. Even Miss Kay says that. They are both strong-minded, visionary, and entrepreneurial. Phil started Duck Commander and grew it to a certain point with a lot of hard work and determination. When Willie got involved in the business, he saw all kinds of ways to expand it. He and I eventually took a leap of faith and bought a portion of the business from Phil, never dreaming it would take our family to prime time.

The Robertson men have been involved in media for years, much longer than some people realize. They started with hunting videos that appealed primarily to serious hunters. Because of those, Phil especially became well known among certain audiences, but nothing like he is now. Ten years ago, he and Willie could have walked through Times Square and no one would have noticed them—well, except for Phil’s beard and rough look. That would not be the case today!

Being on the show has given us so many opportunities we never thought we would have. As a family, we enjoy doing live appearances together, and we have been involved in some really fun things. Sometimes, when we all pack up to travel to a live appearance, we feel like we are going on a field trip. Those times often provide our children with chances to do things Willie and I never imagined they would be able to do. For example, we had a great time when we all participated in the 2013 Country Music Association Awards. John
Luke and Sadie even got to introduce Dierks Bentley, which was fun for all of us to see.

G
REAT
P
EOPLE,
G
OOD
N
EWS

One of the best blessings of the visibility
Duck Dynasty
has provided us is the chance to interact with so many great people. Our fans are terrific and we enjoy getting a minute to chat with them whenever we can. We also have opportunities to meet talented, dedicated people who are doing some amazing work, mostly projects or initiatives to serve others by relieving suffering, offering tangible hope, transforming communities, or finding other ways to make an impact in this world. We are often invited to grand openings or fund-raisers for these kinds of activities, and I love seeing how creative, passionate, and determined some people are to do good and to bless others.

Unfortunately, the news these days is full of negativity, sad stories, and flat-out bad reporting. Because our show has given us a platform to travel and meet people, we have learned that there is also quite a bit of good news in the world. Many people we meet are doing interesting and wonderful things that do not receive any news coverage. Once we started traveling, we realized quickly that the positive things happening in the world are highly underreported!

We cannot possibly say yes to every invitation we receive; there simply are not enough hours in the day. But we try to do as much as we can to help various charities. One of my favorite stories involves an organization that was trying to build a park with a playground
for children with special needs. They needed to raise one hundred thousand dollars to build the park. We attended their fund-raiser, and when it was over, they were shocked and excited to have hit their mark in one night! We were so glad our presence provoked so much generosity and so happy to know the children were going to have a nice place to play. We really enjoy being involved in things like this.

‘D
UCK
D
YNASTY
’ I
S
M
AKING A
D
IFFERENCE

Doing what we do does take a lot out of us at times, but it’s worth it. Our busy schedules and frequent travel can be tiring, but they provide us with so much fulfillment. What is most fulfilling for me is hearing stories from fans about the positive impact
Duck Dynasty
and our family have had on their lives and their families. We have had people tell us with tears in their eyes that the show has brought their family closer together, and we love that—because close-knit family is what we’re all about. One woman told us she and her husband had not been able to find a single television show to watch together in more than fifteen years—until
Duck Dynasty
. People also tell us their pastors preach about the show on Sundays, using lessons from the show to help people grow in their faith.

Maybe the most meaningful thing of all to us is that families have started praying together as a result of the dinner scenes at the conclusion of most
Duck Dynasty
episodes. We have even heard of one group of fifth graders who call themselves the “Duck Dynasty Club.” They sit together during lunch at school every day and pray
before their meal. We feel so blessed to be part of these good things that are happening because of one TV show. We had no idea it would make such an impact.

When we first started doing
Duck Dynasty
, several people asked us if our faith would play a part in it. We thought that was kind of an odd question, because we do not know how to separate our faith from everything else we do. Faith is how we live; it’s who we are. No one can take it out of us. If anyone is going to do a show about us, they will also get our faith.

So much about today’s entertainment industry is based on shock value. Every season, it seems like networks make an effort to push the envelope a little more in terms of sex, violence, and language. When we went on television, we presented an alternative. People can find disrespectful spouses, disobedient children, and bad language on other shows; they will not get it from us because that’s not the way we live. Some people have been surprised at our success; others are simply grateful to have a family-centered show that keeps the language clean, affirms traditional values, and honors God in every episode.

W
E
C
AN’T
W
ORRY
A
BOUT
W
HAT
P
EOPLE
T
HINK

One of the most important lessons I have learned about living a very public life is that we cannot pay too much attention to what people think or say about us. I actually learned this lesson a long
time ago, because everyone deals with this throughout his or her life to some extent. But the issue is magnified when you have a hit television show. Still, it’s a lesson for everyone. Whether it happens in school, at church, or in the workplace, people are going to be critical of the things you do, what you wear, the choices you make, or something else. You cannot control that; all you can control is what you do and how you live. And if you are living to please God, that’s all that matters.

Our family cannot control the press we get, but when it’s inaccurate or when it simply does not tell the whole story about us, we do not have to let it upset us. I remember a specific incident that took this thought to a whole new level for John Luke and made it personal for all of us.

John Luke was out with his friends, a group of guys, in Willie’s truck. I should have known when they left our house to send a girl with them; there was way too much testosterone in that vehicle! While they were out, they saw an old, beat-up boat on the riverbank (it even had bullet holes in it). It had been there for years, but for some reason it caught their attention that day and John Luke decided to bring it home. It was waterlogged and full of junk, so the boys spent hours pulling it out of the river. They then loaded it on a trailer, not realizing there is a limit to how much weight a trailer can haul.

Feeling pretty good about themselves, the boys climbed into the truck, rolled down the windows, and headed home. They were living the life, just having fun. As John Luke rounded a corner, the weight of the boat was too much for the truck and the trailer. The truck flipped four times. To look at the wreckage, a person would
think no one survived. But thank God, no one was seriously hurt. John Luke crawled out of that truck without a scratch on him, and the boys in the backseat—who were not even wearing their seat belts—had only a couple of bumps and bruises. It was a miracle, and we still thank God for protecting those guys.

When Willie and I heard about the accident, like any parents, we rushed to the scene to make sure they were all okay. When people passing by noticed us, they stopped, and soon a crowd had gathered. The police eventually had to ask us to leave. We hated to do that, but we understood we were attracting too much attention. The police had a hard time doing their job with so many people around.

I didn’t even notice at the time because I was too focused on the boys being okay, but the policemen pointed out that the boat had been full of empty beer cans that were now strewn across the road. We all knew the boys had not been drinking, but the policeman was concerned for us that people might jump to the wrong conclusion and that the news might pick that up and report it.

I used those circumstances to reinforce a lesson Willie and I have been teaching our children for years. We tell them not to ever worry about what people think, especially when those people do not even know them. We help them understand that people often make judgments based on wrong or incomplete information, so we cannot worry about that either. All we need to care about is what God thinks and what the people who know us and love us think. We do our best to live lives that are pleasing to God, and we do not pay much attention to the rest.

When I was John Luke’s or Sadie’s age, no one had ever heard of social media. But now, while many of the responses we get through
social media or the press are positive, there are times when I’m appalled by what people post about our family. A lot of it is not true, and some of it is downright hateful, so we just delete it and do not give it a second thought. It’s a lot easier for me to say this at my age than it is for my children to believe it as teenagers, so I make sure to reinforce this continuously. Social media and the press can work the other way too; you can read all the great things people say about you and get a little too big for your britches fast, if you are not careful. I can say for sure that ever since
Duck Dynasty
started, all of us Robertsons have gotten really good at ignoring what certain people think or say! We focus on honoring God and living godly lives with our family and friends. At the end of the day, when the spotlight turns away from us and on to the next thing, those are the people who will be there for us. We will always appreciate our fans, but our family will be the ones we turn to when we need wisdom, comfort, or just plain old help.

A
LL
G
OOD
T
HINGS
M
UST
C
OME TO AN
E
ND

I try to look at this
Duck Dynasty
time in our lives as one season of many seasons to come. I am enjoying this one, but I look forward to different seasons in the future, which we can enjoy for different reasons. I know we will not live in the limelight forever. Television shows all have a life span. Even television’s most popular, longest-running shows eventually come to an end. We know ours will too. Maybe, when that time comes, the guys will shave their beards and cut their hair, and we’ll ride off into the sunset.

Part Seven

INQUIRING MINDS WANT TO KNOW

Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path.

PSALM 119:105, NKJV

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