Phil Robertson, the controversial patriarch of the Duck Dynasty clan, recently learned he has a 45-year-old daughter from a decades-ago affair.
Phil, 74, shared the news about daughter Phyliss on Thursday’s episode of his podcast Unashamed With Phil Robertson. His four of his sons — Willie, Al, Jep and Jase — were there to discuss the family development together.
“It’s a pretty cool explanation of redemption, reconciliation, love,” Phil said. “As it turns out, 45 years, you have a daughter that you don’t know about, and she has a father she doesn’t know about. Forty-five years, that doesn’t sound like very long but you say, that’s a while. So finally, after all those years, we come together.”
The first half of the episode saw them talking about their faith, and Phil’s “former life” was referenced — before he converted to Christianity in the 1970s. He has publicly spoken about being lost before that, drinking to excess, using drugs and cheating on his wife, Miss Kay, whom he married at age 17.
Al used the “former life” mention in telling how a few months back he and Jase were sent letters from a woman saying that a DNA test linked her to Phil. At first they didn’t think much of the letter — said since Duck Dynasty catapulted the family to fame in 2012, they’ve gotten lots of scam mail.
“Basically it was from a woman who said that by a DNA search, she thinks that dad might be her dad,” Al recalled. While he and Jase were initially doubtful, they started looking at the timeline and agreed, “There might be something to this.”
Al and Jase thought about ways to confirm the woman’s story before going to their parents about the “life-changing situation.” They brainstormed what they could do — including one of them secretly taking a DNA test — but, while discussing it with their cousin, he said he’d just call her and get the story.
“I started thinking, there’s a 45-year-old woman out there who doesn’t know who her dad is, and she’s looking. And I thought, even if it’s not dad, she needs to know it’s not dad,” said All, who agreed that his cousin should call.
This article was originally published on yahoo.com/entertainment/.
