It’s been several years since “Duck Dynasty” left TV screens for good, but there’s no way the Robertson family has been forgotten yet. Besides having quite a huge fortune to back up their extravagant lifestyle, and working in a business unusual enough to steal the people’s attention, there was something so out-of-the-mold about the Robertson family that the audience couldn’t help but become completely enthralled by their antics.
Nonetheless, despite having one of the most popular TV shows of the US and achieving international fame, there’s still many people who didn’t get to enjoy the “Duck Dynasty” hype when it happened, and who have many questions about it.
So who are the Robertsons? Who are the most notorious family members and what have they been doing since the show’s end in 2017? Keep with us to know it all!
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Phil Robertson
We can’t talk about the Robertsons without mentioning Phil, the well-known family patriarch who besides being quite a particular character, is also very scandal prone. Although being the founder of Duck Commander Company might lead you to think he’s some sort of stereotypical businessman, the truth is that Phil is too out-of-the-mold to fit that description.
Native of a small Louisiana town, Phil’s childhood was rough to say the least. His family’s financial difficulties pushed him at an early age into a life of hunting, fishing and harvesting vegetables in order to survive. It was an athletic scholarship that gained him a place in Louisiana Tech, where he was widely known as a football prodigy, but who was still allegedly more interested in hunting than sports.
Several years later, Phil’s full-time school teacher career didn’t deter him from looking out to make hunting easier.
That’s how he came up with the duck commander in the early 1970s, obtaining a patent for it right away and finally establishing the Duck Commander Company, without realizing it would soon become a million dollar business.
Nowadays, the Robertson patriarch is not that different from the thriving man he was in his youth, though his controversial opinions on religion, race and politics leave his followers with mixed feelings.
Kay Robertson
Also known as Miss Kay, the family’s matriarch is always there to push some sense of downearthiness into everyone. Married at only 16 years old and welcoming motherhood at such an early age says a lot about Kay’s experience and insights about her family.
Even though she and Phil separated in the late 1960s, due to his alcoholic tendencies and infidelities, the couple eventually found their way back together after both were converted to Christianity.
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It wasn’t only their marriage that was meant to change back then, though. The establishment of Duck Commander Company and its subsequent growth into a successful business took the family quite some time, but it was worth it. To prove that, Kay’s energetic, warm and positive attitude says a lot about the family’s dynamic and lifestyle.
Kay is one of the Robertsons who appeared most often in “Duck Dynasty”, helping her to push her career as a cuisine writer with books such as “Miss Kay’s Duck Commander Kitchen”, and “A Robertson Family Christmas”.
Willie and Korie Robertson
Just like his father Phil, hunting and fishing was a vital part of Willie and his siblings while growing up. Nonetheless, Willie’s uncanny talent at doing business also became evident to his parents when he was only 10 years old: ‘they called us from school, he had to set up a concession stand, selling candies, and he absolutely shut down the school’s whole snack shop,’ his mother Kay recalled in an interview with ABC, adding how she and Phil immediately thought he was going to become the family’s business CEO.
Several years into the future, Willie graduated from the Northeast Louisiana University with a business degree, which was key in the success of Duck Commander Company in the following years, without letting the business grow out of the family.
About Korie, her love story with Willie is one to remember. They met at 10 years old while attending a Christian event and never forgot each other, marrying less than ten years into the future just right before attending university. Korie’s role in the family business is that of a strict office manager, while also supporting her CEO husband.
Although Korie is mostly focused on the business, Willie is also known for getting involved with politics, and causing uproar with some of his most scandalous opinions.
Their Children
Knowing that Korie and Willie come from big families, it’s not a wonder they wanted one like that themselves.
Any good fan of “Duck Dynasty” has come to know the couple’s six children John Luke, Sadie, Bella, Rebecca, Willie Jr. and Rowdy well.
Of all Korie and Willie’s children, Sadie is arguably the most famous. As an actress, she’s appeared in Christian-themed movies such as “Past the Past” and “God’s Not Dead 2”, added to her acclaimed participation in the 19th season of “Dancing With The Stars” in 2014. Besides singing on their family’s Christmas-themed album “Duck the Halls”, in 2015 Sadie became a published author with her book “Live Original”, starting a written-saga to be released in the following years along with tours throughout the US.
Unlike Sadie, her siblings’ lives are less media focused. For his part, John Luke is the director of the Christian summer organization Camp Ch-Yo-Ca, in addition to owning the business Railway Coffee.
His sibling Rebecca is not only the eldest of Korie and Willie’s children, but also the first one they adopted, followed by Willie Jr and Rowdy. The latter is only a couple of days younger than his sister Bella, who has gained quite huge popularity on her Instagram account.
Si Robertson
One of the most impressive aspects of “Duck Dynasty” is how some of its cast have become individually famous without much of a problem. Nonetheless, Si’s case isn’t really that surprising, considering that you only need to watch the guy for five minutes to understand why the audience loves him so much.
As Phil’s younger brother, Si is unsurprisingly the clan’s funniest guy. Growing up poor and having to learn his way hunting and obtaining his food through nature, Si did well in following his older brother’s steps, and became a football sensation himself, but unlike Phil, Si dropped out of Louisiana Tech University before finishing his major.
He was then drafted to go to the Vietnam War, eventually achieving the rank of Sergeant First Class, with which he retired from the Army in 1993.
Si’s life-long experience in hunting made him the right fit to join his brother’s Duck Commander Company as a reed tester. Despite his light-hearted attitude, Si’s also loyal to his family’s Christian faith, and has been married for five decades to Christine, who unfortunately doesn’t appear in “Duck Dynasty”. The couple welcomed two children together, and are now grandparents to eight kids.
Beside his family’s series, Si has appeared in several other reality and talks shows, including starring in “Going Si-ral”, acting in a couple of Christian-themed movies, and even releasing his own music single “Me and My Smokin’ Hot Honey”.
Alan and Lisa Robertson
Although Alan and Lisa were never main cast members of “Duck Dynasty”, by the time the show was canceled they were more than known by the audience. As it happens, Alan is actually Phil and Korie’s eldest child, and apparently played a big role in the growth of his parents’ company in the early 1970s.
However, his choice to follow the path of ministry took him away from the family’s business altogether. After serving as a church pastor for 22 years, he and his wife Lisa made their way back to their roots in Louisiana in 2013.
Taking back a job in the family’s company and becoming regulars in “Duck Dynasty” wasn’t surprising at all, as Alan and Lisa were meant to appear in the show since the start, but couldn’t do it due to the very tough filming schedules: ‘we kind of kept our distance from the filming, but we were obviously supporting everyone’, he told Risen Magazine.
Though the show is no longer on air, Alan and Lisa continue making public appearances by offering couple counseling together, in addition to Alan rejoining the White’s Ferry Road Church as an elder preacher. Regarding their children, their two daughters Katie and Elizabeth unfortunately never appeared in “Duck Dynasty”, and keep a low public profile.
Jase and Missy Robertson
As the chief operations officer of Duck Commander Company, you would think that the third younger Robertson son is greatly intuitive in the business sense. However, Jase has admitted that despite doing well in the family’s company, he wasn’t very positive about the success of “Duck Dynasty” in the beginning, in addition to having a negative perception of the reality TV genre: ‘We’ve got some crazy characters in our family, but I didn’t think people would want to see that’, he told Fox News in 2013.
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Just like the rest of his family, Jase wouldn’t be as invested in Duck Commander Company if it wasn’t for his hunting background. Actually, it was his knowledge in the field that led him to invent the “Triple Threat”, an improved version of the business’ common duck call. Nonetheless, Jase is known more for wanting to be in the hunting-action than in an office.
Unlike her husband Jase, Missy’s focus goes beyond creating duck calls. Although she’s supportive of her husband’s family’s business, she’s a volunteering music teacher, is involved with religious missions, and has even written her own series of Christian books for kids.
Their Children
Jase and Missy are parents to three children, named Reed, Cole and Mia. True to the family’s tradition, both Reed and Cole are avid football players in college, but while Reed chose to keep his public life low key, Cole is on his way to pursue a career as a country music artist.
In 2016, Reed married his long-time girlfriend Brighton, with whom he welcomed a daughter Merris Carroway in late 2021. On his part, there’s not a lot to say about Cole’s romantic life, but his career as an insurance entrepreneur seems to be going well.
Regarding Mia, her situation is rather different from her brothers’. Born with a bilateral cleft lip and palate, Mia has endured several corrective surgeries, some of which were covered while “Duck Dynasty” aired.
Aware about the struggles faced by kids with the same diagnosis as their daughter’s, Jase and Missy established the Mia Moo Fund to help people of all backgrounds and financial situations, to obtain the means to treat this condition medically, as well as to offer emotional guidance throughout this enduring process. For her part, Mia nowadays lives a normal life, and is an avid singer and pianist.
Jep and Jessica Robertson
It’s not hard to notice that there’s an evident age gap between Jep and his older brothers.
As the youngest Robertson son, Jep is definitely a light-hearted man with a more modern-mindset compared to the rest of his siblings, but without leaving his faith.
Unlike his family, Jep isn’t that much into hunting, preferring to spend his time outdoors with the rest of the Robertsons, but filming their duck-catching escapades. Jep’s interests lay in technology and food, founding the Jep’s Southern Roots truckfood, in addition to his and his wife Jessica’s joint cuisine YouTube channel.
As one of the youngest faces of the Robertson family, it’s not surprising that A&E gave them their highly-successful show “Jep and Jessica: Growing The Dynasty”, which aired for two seasons starting from 2016. Nonetheless, don’t let their young and fresh appearance fool you, as the couple has been married for almost two decades, and have welcomed five children together, named Lillian Mae, Merritt Decatur, Priscilla June, River Alexander and Gus, who they adopted in 2015.
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Nowadays the family lives away from their native Louisiana, and are established in Austin, Texas, where their business is based.
Why Was “Duck Dynasty” Canceled?
Given how wildly successful “Duck Dynasty” was, it’s still surprising for many people to know the show was canceled after 11 seasons and five years on air.
While many people speculate “Duck Dynasty”s downfall from TV was caused by Phil Robertson’s scandals and controversial opinions, added to his and Willie’s involvement with politics, it’s also worth considering there were other important reasons to end the show.
The show’s highest rating point happened during the fourth season, when it was tuned in to by 11,77 million people during its premiere. From there the numbers went downhill, reaching its lowest audience records in the 11th season’s premiere with 1.29 points.
Given this data and the fact the family had become quite a handful when it came to their public image, it’s safe to guess what was behind the end of “Duck Dynasty”.
