Order of Man - WILLIE ROBERTSON ｜ Digging Out of the Depths of Despair

00:00:00.000 Every single one of us has a story. We all have a past and too many of us live in what we've done

00:00:04.700 in the past rather than use it as fuel to propel us into the future. One of the great comeback

00:00:09.760 stories that you may be somewhat familiar with is Phil Robertson's from Duck Dynasty. His story

00:00:15.120 of perseverance, overcoming extreme hardship, and the path to redemption. His son and co-star

00:00:20.520 of Duck Dynasty, Willie Robertson, is here to talk with me today about his father's story of

00:00:25.600 Redemption, their new movie, The Blind, why it's never too late to write the next chapter of your

00:00:30.900 life, digging out of the depths of despair and overcoming the guilt of past behavior.

00:00:36.220 You're a man of action. You live life to the fullest. Embrace your fears and boldly charge

00:00:40.980 your own path. When life knocks you down, you get back up one more time. Every time. You are not

00:00:46.660 easily deterred, defeated, rugged, resilient, strong. This is your life. This is who you are. This is who

00:00:54.160 you will become. At the end of the day, and after all is said and done, you can call yourself a man.

00:01:00.460 Gentlemen, it's good to be with you today. This one's a little different for our Friday field

00:01:03.680 notes. Usually you get to hear from me and my ramblings and thoughts and ideas from throughout

00:01:07.560 the week, but today I've got a special one for you. A little one-off with his name is Willie

00:01:12.660 Robertson. Now, I know a lot of you, most of you, maybe even all of you are familiar with who

00:01:17.440 Willie Robertson is from Duck Dynasty. I had his father, Phil, on several years ago to talk about

00:01:23.860 some of his thoughts and books and ideas, and I thought it'd be a good idea to get Willie

00:01:27.360 back on the podcast, or here on the podcast, not back, but Willie on the podcast to talk about

00:01:32.720 their new media company, but also their latest movie, The Blind, to talk about Phil's story of

00:01:38.680 redemption. I don't really have many announcements today. I just want to get right into the conversation

00:01:43.420 by introducing you to Willie. Again, he's the co-star of Duck Dynasty. He is the heir to the Duck

00:01:49.700 Commander legacy, but he's also made a name for himself as a hardworking, down-to-earth Christian

00:01:55.120 who unabashedly shares his values with the world. The Robertson family has cemented itself at this

00:02:02.000 point in the reality TV world as a family that has everything figured out, but it wasn't always

00:02:08.100 the case. And with the release of their newest movie, The Blind, the Robertson family pulls back

00:02:13.220 the curtain into Phil's disastrous start to life, and most importantly, how he turned around not

00:02:18.680 only his life, but the lives of future generations to come. Willie, what's up, man? So great to see

00:02:24.680 you. Thanks for joining me on the podcast today. What's up? How are you? I'm pretty good. I had

00:02:29.320 your dad on. I was looking, gosh, it's probably been two or three years now. And obviously, you know,

00:02:34.840 I, along with a lot of people who've been following your guys' journey, but you guys have a new

00:02:39.120 project coming out, which is the movie, The Blind. I'm really curious about why coming out with that

00:02:42.760 movie now and tell me a little bit about the premise of the movie. Yeah, it's, well, we got

00:02:49.060 into production because we really just want to make some more positive things. You know, we saw from

00:02:54.700 Duck Dynasty that there was a real need and want and desire for more positive TV and positive movies

00:03:01.800 and entertainment in general. And so, yeah, we were thinking like other people's stories and, you know,

00:03:10.380 people like we were before, you know, Duck Dynasty. And then we came with this idea about

00:03:16.060 Phil and Kay's story, which was kind of on the nose. We were like, well, shoot, that's about our

00:03:20.040 own family. But it's such an incredible story. We just felt like we had to tell it. And so

00:03:24.800 we sat down with mom and dad and said, hey, we, you know, we've got kind of wanted to tell your

00:03:29.740 guys' story at the beginning before it all kind of got better. And, you know, they were really

00:03:36.320 for it. I mean, they've been real transparent about their lives. And, you know, Phil, he always

00:03:42.280 wants to share the gospel with people. So he just was like, if this is a way to get, you know, get the

00:03:46.760 message out there, he was willing to do that. And, you know, in Christianity and I guess life in

00:03:51.560 general, we always say, you know, you're passing the past and we look forward and we move on and

00:03:56.640 press forward, you know, until they make a movie about it. And then it just kind of, you live

00:04:00.620 there, you know, in that space. And, uh, uh, it was tough for him to watch, you know, and just to

00:04:05.540 go back and, uh, you know, dig up all that stuff and for, for he and mom, but, um, but it's a story

00:04:11.640 they wanted to tell. And it's, I think they're proud of it. And, um, uh, yeah, it's raw. It's real,

00:04:16.400 you know, it's not, it's not a cheesy Christian movie. It's, it was hard making it a Christian

00:04:21.220 movie because most of it was not. So, uh, it was hard keeping it from being rated R, but, um, uh,

00:04:26.260 but we did it and yeah, we're proud of it. I think the thing I like most about the movie,

00:04:30.160 cause I got sent a screener is that you're right. It's dark and it's raw and it tells a real story

00:04:37.460 as opposed to the family that, you know, millions and millions of people know, which is where Phil

00:04:43.760 is now. And when he was on the podcast, he was literally reading scripture on the podcast when

00:04:47.740 I had him on and it, and it, the episode did really well, the conversation, but yeah,

00:04:52.340 it shows a darker side. I was curious about where, I mean, I know you guys have been in

00:04:56.960 the public limelight quite often and for a long time. Um, I'm curious if there's any,

00:05:01.740 any sort of embarrassment or, or, or shame in that from either your folks or, or from you

00:05:07.920 and how you manage that. Uh, uh, embarrassment. Yes. I mean, Phil's actually used those exact

00:05:13.680 words. You know, he's just embarrassed about kind of how he lived and how he carried on.

00:05:18.060 And, um, yeah, I think seeing it played out, you realize how he could have lost everything.

00:05:22.640 You know, he, he was, I mean, it was right there to lose, you know, us, his kids and his

00:05:27.780 wife. And, um, uh, that probably should have happened. You know, I guess if I was giving

00:05:33.520 advice to my mom now, I'd probably say, you may need to move on down the road. You know,

00:05:38.560 I don't think he's the one. And, um, uh, so he realized how close he took it, you know,

00:05:43.980 to that level. And, uh, had it not been at the time for his sister, uh, ain't jam, uh,

00:05:50.720 who never gave up on Phil. And I think even at that time when Phil couldn't, you know, I'm sure

00:05:54.680 mom couldn't really minister to Phil or try to help him in any way she was hurt and damaged too.

00:06:00.620 And, um, you know, but his sister just kept, man, she, she had this weird view of Phil or it was

00:06:05.720 like, uh, she went and begged this preacher to go up there and, and shared the gospel with him. And,

00:06:11.700 um, in a very adversarial manner, like he, he got in his car, drove to a bar and went in and shared

00:06:19.140 his faith with Phil at the bar. Um, Phil was not happy about it. And, but, but, but my aunt Jan

00:06:25.940 told the preacher, she said, if you convert him, he'll convert thousands. Now how she knew that or

00:06:31.740 how she could see that was just amazing to me. Um, uh, cause you're talking about, you know, Phil was

00:06:36.680 a gifted athlete. He's a smart guy. He got his master's degree at Louisiana tech.

00:06:41.520 And it was like, he had all this hope and, you know, come out of this. And we showed that

00:06:45.500 in the movie too, kind of where they came out of, you know, uh, super poverty. And, um,

00:06:50.620 and my mother, my grandmother had mental illness. And, um, uh, so they kind of worked his way

00:06:56.120 out of that and all this future was looking bright, you know, and here this guy is. And,

00:07:00.800 and then he just blew it, you know, he just wasted it on, uh, threw it all away, got fired from

00:07:06.640 his job and he ends up, you know, leasing this bar and, uh, it was kind of just like wasted talent,

00:07:11.740 you know? And, um, and so he took it that far and, um, and were it not for that, that preacher

00:07:17.580 going up and planting that seed, he didn't respond immediately. He was not happy. And it wasn't

00:07:23.020 until he responded, just not favorably. Right. No, he just kind of, you know, it just, it's like,

00:07:28.200 you know, you plant that seed and you just never know, you know? And so at least it gave him

00:07:31.620 an option. Uh, and it wasn't until in the movie, there's alliances when he got to the end of

00:07:36.500 himself, that's when, you know, the beginning of God happened. And so he just kind of ran it,

00:07:41.680 you know, like we do, we just run it all the way into the ground and he finds himself, you know,

00:07:47.500 extremely lonely by himself. He's being chased by the police. He's living in the woods, uh, like a

00:07:54.540 crazy person. And then, you know, he has this moment where he's like, okay, maybe I'll,

00:07:59.620 maybe I'll check that story out. That guy said about, about Jesus Christ. And, um,

00:08:04.380 and then he went from that just to like, Oh, I'm like insanely on fire, you know? And that's what

00:08:10.520 I remember. Most of my memories are from him just preaching all the time. Like you said, he was

00:08:15.940 reading his Bible. He still does that. You know, every time I go down to his house, he gets his Bible

00:08:21.900 out. He's quoting something or reading something. In fact, most of our conversations, believe it or not,

00:08:27.120 it's not even about hunting as much or, or outdoors or football or politics or whatever. Uh, it's still

00:08:33.780 about the Bible. It's still about stories that, you know, uh, something he's reading or something

00:08:38.580 I'm reading or somewhere I spoke or he spoke. And so, uh, it's just been that way for, for me for 50

00:08:44.140 years. I mean, it's, it's been very consistent. He's just been the same, you know? Uh, so how old were

00:08:49.860 you, how old were you when, when this, this conversion happened and there started to be a

00:08:55.400 transition in his life and, and the direction he was going? Yeah, I was around two. And so in the

00:09:00.380 movie, I'm portrayed actually by my grandson, John Shepard, John Luke's son. Oh, I didn't know

00:09:05.780 that. Yeah. He plays me in the movie, which is really cool. And we need a two-year-old. And so he

00:09:10.560 was the right age and, uh, the right look, I guess. Um, but yeah, that's about how old I was. So

00:09:16.240 really my earliest memories are when they just kind of, when, when, when they got back together,

00:09:21.520 uh, when he moved to, we moved to West Monroe, Louisiana, which is where we still are, um, in,

00:09:28.200 in the apartment that the, the church had kind of set up for mom. Cause she was a single mom at this

00:09:33.380 point when she shows up, uh, the pastor that had, uh, led her to the Lord, uh, had, had set it up,

00:09:39.940 had gotten her a job and the job, ironically enough. I mean, we live in a small,

00:09:46.240 town, but ain't that small, uh, was actually from my wife, Corey's, uh, grandfather and dad are the

00:09:51.920 ones who hired my mother, uh, to be an office worker at their company. They were in the retail

00:09:57.280 business. And so, yeah, small world, uh, that we ended up, uh, getting married, uh, cause we ended

00:10:02.240 up at that church and that's when Phil came back. And so those are my earliest memories. And, and

00:10:07.100 that's when Phil just, he went all in with the gospel for sure. But that's also when he, uh, he told

00:10:11.960 him one time, he said, I, when I finally got my head clear, I could, I could think about business.

00:10:15.840 And that's when he went all in the duck call and man, he would tell stories about this duck call.

00:10:20.480 This duck call, we're going to sell a million dollars worth these things. We're all sitting

00:10:23.780 around going on a million dollars. Like, you know, we're making like 12 grand a year, like

00:10:28.680 so mostly we were fishing, you know, we were commercial fishing and, um, but he just had this

00:10:35.500 dream. He said, I think this duck call, and there's a little of that on the move where you see kind of

00:10:39.260 these ideas formed, uh, uh, for the duck call and what he could do with that. And, uh, and that's

00:10:44.660 when we ended up moving down there on the river. And, um, and he said, I'm going to fish the river

00:10:48.500 and make this duck call. And, you know, one of these days, we're going to be super successful.

00:10:52.480 And, you know, we're going to all have new cars. I remember that was the big thing.

00:10:56.380 You got whatever day, you know, new truck, we're going to all have a new truck, you know,

00:11:00.920 and that was, that was our goal in life. So, uh, and I guess at some point we did get a new

00:11:06.460 truck. Yeah. Yeah. That's amazing. The thing I like about the movie is the underlying theme is,

00:11:13.160 is redemption. And all the guys listening to this podcast, listening to the show,

00:11:16.840 like they're, they're well aware of their baggage and their bullshit. And they're well aware of,

00:11:20.520 you know, all their failures and shortcomings. And, and I think a lot of these guys have a hard

00:11:25.120 time and myself included in many ways with this idea of redemption, uh, you know, recovery,

00:11:30.560 redemption, improving yourself, fixing things, making amends. So I think that's probably what

00:11:36.400 I like most about the movie is that you can come from the depths of despair and actually make

00:11:40.660 something of your life. Yeah. I mean, you can see, well, what's cool is you can see the success

00:11:46.980 now, 50 years later, you can see the success through, uh, not just Doug dynasty. And by the

00:11:53.940 way, had they not stayed together, you know, had they had Phil just went his own way. Mom ended up

00:11:59.200 moving on. My whole life would have completely literally changed. In fact, I wouldn't be talking

00:12:04.140 to you today. You wouldn't have talked to him. None of that would have happened, uh, the way it

00:12:08.540 laid out. And so really every day is a marker. It's like every day, it's like, this wouldn't have

00:12:12.820 happened if that couple in South Arkansas is, you want to talk about redemption, like man,

00:12:18.160 when you can't see it. And I think a lot of guys will get to that point where they just can't see

00:12:22.200 past tomorrow. They think, man, it's, you know, it's too far gone or it's too damaged, you know,

00:12:27.140 and, and you can, so now you can see the fruit of that. Uh, you can see it through, you know,

00:12:31.980 he ended up doing what he, what he always wanted to do, which was hunt, you know, um,

00:12:36.160 Phil, Phil's one of the few guys I know that can literally just hunt for a living. You know,

00:12:41.000 he's how we say, he's the only guy I know that gets paid to hunt, even though I'm in the business,

00:12:45.040 I don't get paid to hunt. I said, run a business and all that, uh, but I can watch Phil hunt and

00:12:50.320 just the stuff he says and how he does it, you know? Um, and so he ends up doing exactly,

00:12:55.280 you know, his, his dream in life or what he wanted to do. Um, he ends up keeping his family

00:13:00.600 together, which obviously is the most important part. He knows where he's going. He has this sound

00:13:04.660 firm foundation of faith. And, um, and so for him, it was at 28 years old, but I've seen it happen for

00:13:11.020 other men, you know, at different ages. And so it could be younger, it could be older. I mean,

00:13:15.700 you know, I've talked to shoot up baptize a guy that was in his nineties one time, you know,

00:13:20.000 which was amazing, you know, to think that, uh, but yeah, I mean, I think to your point, you know,

00:13:24.940 you got to deal with it and there is redemption and that's the beautiful story of,

00:13:28.820 of God and faith is that, you know, the, there's a sacrifice made and, and you can make things

00:13:34.760 right. You know, when you're, when you just honestly say, Hey, here's where I was. I messed

00:13:38.620 up and blew it. And, um, you know, for us, it's always a reminder, Doug, the honesty for me started

00:13:43.360 at 40. That's how old I was for mom and dad. They were in their sixties, like Sal was like 65 when this

00:13:51.080 show started. So I think they thought their life was pretty much, that's it, you know, moving on into

00:13:57.720 retirement and just think about the life lived since Doug dynasty, you know, 2012, um, all the

00:14:05.140 books and podcasts and movies, you know, movies now, I mean, all these things have come. So, uh,

00:14:10.040 it just, I always encourage people like, you never know, you know, you just never know when you,

00:14:14.400 you know, I think, I think sometimes we thought, man, you know, I made some bad moves in high school

00:14:18.860 or didn't do the right thing, you know, or didn't get the right education. Now life's over,

00:14:23.860 but you never know, you know what I mean? There's, you know, hope can spring out and

00:14:27.580 ball out and people can say, man, there's, there's something to do, you know, and you just

00:14:32.080 never know what that could be. I think the hard part is you watch a two hour movie and you see

00:14:36.640 this redemption story and you're like, Oh, good. That can be me. And you feel hope and optimism.

00:14:39.840 And then you get to your real life and it's like, it takes a little longer than two hours.

00:14:44.600 You know what I mean? That's where it can start.

00:14:47.080 You know, right. That's where it can start. Uh, yeah, it's funny you say that. Cause I remember when,

00:14:51.980 when Doug dynasty came out, I, I, people would come up and say like, Willie, what's it like being

00:14:56.360 an overnight success with your business? I said, well, dad started in 72. So it seemed like a long

00:15:02.580 time. Yeah. There's a lot of, you know, patients in this business, you know, years of just, you

00:15:08.140 know, uh, incremental growth or step by, you know, setbacks in the business where it's like, you know,

00:15:14.360 and I never dreamed we would sell as many duck calls as we did. Obviously having a giant TV show

00:15:20.340 helps, uh, helps that, but, uh, yeah, man, you got to stick with it, but that's where you got to find

00:15:25.260 your own. You got to find your mission and purpose, you know, and what that is and that satisfaction

00:15:30.200 in your faith and in your family. And then, uh, the things that are real, you know, but it,

00:15:34.820 but it can start there, you know, and for Phil, that's where that this movie is about seeing where

00:15:38.740 it started, you know, where that life change was made and going, Hey, I got to change up some things,

00:15:43.460 you know, and he ended up just hauling off and moving, you know, moving from Arkansas,

00:15:47.440 Louisiana. I mean, he had to get away from people. And so, and I think people can find themselves in

00:15:51.860 this story somewhere, you know, people can find themselves maybe with my aunt who never gave up

00:15:55.960 on her brother. Maybe the, maybe the pastor who said, I got to get in the car and go see somebody.

00:16:00.280 And, you know, I think there's times in our life where like, I need to go see somebody. I need to

00:16:03.800 go talk to that person. You know, you can just see their lives being a wreck or, or maybe it's K that

00:16:08.540 maybe it's just letting go of stuff and forgiving and moving on. Or maybe it's us, you know,

00:16:12.980 life wasn't fair, you know, about how our parents were acting and, but you got to move on, you know,

00:16:18.640 appreciate the good and move on, you know? And so I think, I think there's a lot of stories in here

00:16:23.580 where people can find themselves. And even though your life may not be wrecked and damaged like that,

00:16:28.860 you never know. You may be around somebody that is maybe your kids, or maybe your, your son or your

00:16:33.780 daughter ends up, you know, their life's in a mess and you're like, Ooh, you know, that reminds me of

00:16:38.040 that story. And so maybe it can help in that matter. Yeah. Well, I'm ashamed to admit that

00:16:42.900 I, to tell you that I've only been, uh, duck hunting once, but I really enjoyed it. I hunt

00:16:47.220 quite often. And in fact, quite a lot. What are you hunting only once? Uh, everything from moose

00:16:53.360 to whitetail to pigs, to Axis deer in Hawaii. I mean, you name it, but, but, uh, that's more of my

00:16:59.720 flavor. So I haven't got to me yet. That's more of my flavor. I'm a, to truth be told. Yeah. I spent way

00:17:06.220 more time chasing deer. And, uh, in fact, I cooked, uh, I got one last weekend in Mississippi

00:17:11.760 that early season. So, uh, I cooked, uh, yeah, I cooked the tenderloins last night. So it was our

00:17:17.840 first of the year. Our first, my, my kids and my wife's always happy. That's, this is the time of

00:17:23.300 year when I come back and, uh, clean it, cook it and, uh, get it going. So yeah, it's that time of year.

00:17:29.120 I'm really excited about that too. Awesome. Well, good luck in the hunting season. Um, tell the guys real

00:17:34.100 quick, where to connect with you, where to, uh, find the movie. It comes out on the 28th,

00:17:38.900 September 28th and great film. I'm excited about what you guys are doing. Let the people know.

00:17:43.980 September 28th, it'll be in theaters. And I think it's really important for us to show

00:17:47.940 support. You know, it's easy to gripe about kind of state of movies or TV or whatever.

00:17:52.940 It's easy to complain, but you know, we can actually go support things. And so we've seen some

00:17:57.040 movies that have done really good in that space and the Hollywood takes notice and they,

00:18:01.420 you know, they do that, um, go to the blind movie.com, uh, find out more about it. And

00:18:07.160 yeah, a lot of people are talking about it. So it'll be out September 28th. And, uh, it's

00:18:11.620 kind of one of the movies where, you know, we're guaranteed a week and the more people go

00:18:15.100 see it, it'll, you know, it'll stay out there. And so, um, yeah, go check it out. And, you

00:18:19.580 know, I have a friend, maybe somebody, maybe, maybe it'll help them too. So it'd be, it'd be

00:18:23.980 easier getting them there to maybe deal with some things than it would be in another way.

00:18:27.760 Yeah. Well, I'll sync it all up and I'll promote heavy on my end. Cause I love the film and I love

00:18:32.480 your family and what you guys are doing. It's been good to get to know, um, you guys just a

00:18:36.380 little bit, you know, and, and get a glimpse into what you guys are all about and, uh, really

00:18:40.620 appreciate everything you do. Thanks for joining me today. Awesome. Good to be with you.

00:18:45.580 All right, gentlemen, there you go. My conversation with Willie Robertson. I hope you enjoyed that

00:18:50.020 one. I know it was kind of a short one. It was packed with a lot of good information about

00:18:53.940 redemption. Uh, and, and I know we didn't have a lot of time as much as I normally do with previous

00:18:58.420 guests, but man, that was powerful. And to be able to talk with him about his life and what it was

00:19:04.020 like to grow up with Phil and some of the disastrous, uh, behavior, I would say that, that Phil engaged in

00:19:11.260 and how he was able to turn his life around, hopefully gives you some optimism for your own

00:19:16.320 redemption story and how you can improve your life, despite what you may have started with and where you

00:19:20.860 came from. I would definitely recommend checking out the movie, the blind. I have watched it. It's

00:19:25.680 an incredible, incredible movie. It's a feel good movie. It's a story of redemption. It's probably one

00:19:30.480 that Hollywood generally would reject and not necessarily embrace, but it's not also one of

00:19:35.880 those cheesy feel good Hallmark type videos or movies where, you know, everything works out and

00:19:42.380 it's safe and comfortable and nobody's threatened or challenged by it. So I think you're going to be

00:19:48.140 challenged by the movie itself to examine your own life. And I would highly, again, encourage you to

00:19:52.540 check out the blind and also see what Willie and his father, Phil are up to, uh, stay connected with

00:19:58.500 me, stay connected with them guys. Have a great weekend. Uh, let's remember that we all have a

00:20:03.360 mission and a job to do as men. Hopefully this helps you on your endeavor. Guys, we'll be back next

00:20:08.880 week until then go out there, take action and become a man. You are meant to be. Thank you for

00:20:13.760 listening to the order of man podcast. You're ready to take charge of your life and be more of the man

00:20:18.880 you were meant to be. We invite you to join the order at order of man.com.

Order of Man - October 06, 2023

WILLIE ROBERTSON ｜ Digging Out of the Depths of Despair

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