From the Kitchen Table: The Duffys - How Duck Dynasty Couple Healed Their Broken Marriage

Episode Date: February 17, 2022

This week, Sean and Rachel bring stars of the tv show Duck Dynasty and hosts of the Unashamed podcast Al and Lisa Robertson to the Kitchen Table to talk about their love story. The Robertson's share the obstacles they've encountered over thirty years of marriage and how they learned to trust and forgive one another after the trust was broken. Later, they share some tips they give to couples across the country on how to maintain a healthy and loving relationship. Follow Sean and Rachel on Twitter: @SeanDuffyWI & @RCamposDuffy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Oh, interrupting their playlist to talk about Defying Gravity, are we? That's right, Newton. With a Bronco in Bronco Sport, gravity has met its match. Huh. Maybe that apple hit me a little harder than I thought. Yeah, you should get that checked out. With standard 4x4 capability, Broncos keep going up and up. Now get up to $6,000 in rebates on eligible 2024 Bronco family models. Visit your Toronto area Ford store or Ford.ca. Hey everyone, welcome to From the Kitchen Table.

I'm your host, Sean Duffy, along with my co-host for the podcast, but also my partner in life, Rachel Campos Duffy. That's right, Sean. It's so great to be back at the kitchen table, talking to all of you on this week of Valentine's. So earlier in the week, we did Dan Bongino's love story with his wife, Paula. And today we have two other people who I think are going to bring a whole other angle to this idea of love and marriage and really putting it front and center

and not just our lives, but I think really culturally, Sean. Yeah, absolutely. And again, we always talk about if we're going to save America, we have to save marriages and families. And they're at the forefront of making sure their marriage is strong, their families are strong, but also presenting a great image and example for the rest of the country. That's right. We're going to be bringing two members of America's favorite self-proclaimed backwoods family and the Duck Commander clan, Al and Lisa Robertson. We're bringing you to the kitchen table to talk about your love story, but also some of the obstacles that come with marriage. Al and Lisa, welcome to the kitchen table.

Thanks. Thank you so much. We are so glad to be here. Well, we were on your podcast. Tell everybody about your podcast. I want to make sure our listeners also catch yours. Yeah, you guys came into the unashamed lair is what we call it. It's our little, it's our little hunting place out in the middle of nowhere.

But we had a great visit on Unashamed with Jason and Missy and Lisa and I, of course, you and Sean, Rachel. And it was, it was really great. We appreciate you guys doing that for us. The time passed so fast. It sure did, didn't it? It went really fast. You guys are just a really fun crew i kept i'll tell

shania because we're from the kitchen table here i'm like that's a kitchen table i'd like to sit around but actually in your set too this the set has it looks like a great kitchen table as you guys are sitting around it and talking and having fun and we went so long this was so much fun for us we went so long as our computer actually died at the very end of the segment we fell off um she was right in the middle of just this great you know wrap up point and it was just oh there it goes well that's life um and that's why we have you guys here because you guys get that you know life is messy and things happen and we all enter into marriage with the best of intentions, you know, in love. But everyone knows that marriage or if they don't, they should know that marriage is difficult. Marriage is hard. Marriage brings a lot of unexpected things into our lives and things

we have to work hard to overcome and and get better at. And so I guess we just want you to start to tell us your story, your love story, because we're just fascinated also that you you met at McDonald's like in a parking lot. Yeah, that's like the Jack and Diane story, right? That's right. Well, back in the early 80s, you know, there's wasn't a lot going on in Western Louisiana. The McDonald's was kind of our spot for the teenagers to go. And, you know, we just drove around and around the parking lot hoping somebody else would show up. That was kind of the way it worked for us. And so, yeah, that's that's exactly how we met.

Lisa, we'd actually gone to middle school together. We were I was an eighth grader and we had just moved out to where, you know, the show is filmed way out in the middle of nowhere. And Lisa was raised right up the road. And so we went to school together, but she was in sixth grade. I was in the eighth grade. And because I was the new man on campus, I was kind of a big deal. You know, I was the little school is called Pinecrest School. And so I was Mr. Pinecrest that year, which, by the way, is the only title I've ever owned or had.

So, no, that's not your only title. Arm candy. Oh, that's right. Speaking to her, I'm arm candy as well. So we so Lisa kind of noticed me before I noticed her. And, you know, I had a lot of young girls. I love how he puts that in there. He had to make sure he got that in. She was after me from an early age.

But, you know, a lot changes from sixth grade until the tenth grade, which is when I first noticed her. And she was in the drive-thru at McDonald's. And I was, I went over and I leaned my head in the car and I was like, whoa. And when I saw her and in redneck, that means you filled out, you grew up. Do you know what they call it these days? My kids have this term for it. It's called a glow up. It means like suddenly, you know, that moment where, you know, you go from being, you know, looking like a little scrawny girl to like,

wow, it's a glow up. That's why I love you. You're, you're on the cutting edge of societal evolution. You know, you know these things, which is really great. Yeah. So that was, by the way, she used that phrase and I was like, what does it glow up? I'm in touch with the kids. So that was, uh, she, she has glowed up and, uh, and I noticed. And, uh, so I was like, when are we going out? And she said, well, I guess whenever you asked me, so that kind of started, uh, our relationship. And, uh,

unfortunately, you know, I've been a pastor most of my, unfortunately, you know, I've been a pastor most of my life and, you know, I've been in love with the Lord since I was 18, but at this point I was only 16. And I was, uh, as I, as we say down here in the South, we were, I was working on my testimony at this point. And, uh, I heard that, but I like it. Yeah, I was working on it. And, uh, so it wasn't, uh, it wasn't really great. It was, you know it. Yeah, I was working on it. And so it wasn't really great. It was, you know, I was not a good person. And Lisa really was a good girl. And I feel like, you know, our first year there, we started dating that I was just I was a bad influence on her.

And, you know, she had had a lot of things from her life that I didn't know at the time. I didn't care, to be honest. had a lot of things from her life that I didn't know at the time. I didn't care, to be honest. But, you know, once I married her and we began to build a life together, I realized that she really needed a guide at that point. And I was just, you know, I fell short of that. So it's one of my two greatest regrets in life is that I wasn't a better person when we met. So, Lisa, you how long were you dating before you got married?

Cause I think you married quite young, right? We did the first time we dated. Um, I was in the 10th grade and he was in the 12th grade and that only lasted about six months. Um, he actually, um, got into trouble with that testimony and, uh, had to move to New Orleans for a little while. So he came back whenever he came back from New Orleans. I was in the 12th grade and, you know, just a few months away from graduating from high school. And so, you know, what we thought back then was our first date was, you know, when he asked me out on that McDonald's parking lot, then the next night, you know, we went out and it was less than desirable. It was it was quite deflating, actually.

But, you know, not to be deterred, I continued dating Alan. And on about the fourth or fifth date, I guess, is whenever he said, if you love me, you will. And I really felt like that since I was in the sixth grade, I did love him. And so I was in full board. So that's whenever we started our sexual relationship was whenever I was in the 10th grade. So then, you know, a lot happened in those two years in my life and his. Lots of guys came through. And for him, you know, lots of things happened in New Orleans. came through. And for him, you know, lots of things happened in New Orleans. But whenever we started dating again, whenever I was in the 12th grade, we decided that we wanted to be a little, not a little, a lot, because at that point he introduced me to Jesus. I was still expecting him to be this, you know, this guy that drank and smoked

marijuana and, you know, that I had sex with. But that's not what he wanted. Whenever he came back, his life was changed. And so at that point, our second first date, he introduced me to Jesus and told me that that's not how he wanted to live, that he wanted to live pure. And so at that point, when we started dating, we were like, okay, so we'll live pure. We really didn't understand what that meant. that meant. Because after about, you know, a couple of weeks, then Al says his biology. Yeah, began to overtake my theology. So that happens. Yeah. So we started talking more seriously about about getting married. And we did. And we were young. You're right. We were 19 and 18.

married and we did. And we were young. You're right. We were 19 and 18. Yeah. Married. And, you know, we took so much baggage into our relationship of not only our past, but just things we had really not figured out yet. So, you know, the first first few years of marriage were really tough. And it took us a few years to kind of get our footing on our relationship. And I always tell people now, Lisa and I do a lot of marriage stuff with, you know, couples. And, you know, I say everybody comes in their marriage with some suitcases, maybe one or two with some baggage from their past. And, you know, we kind of put them someplace and hope we never have to deal with them. But you're always going to have to open them up at some point because, you know, it's just life. And so we try to tell people, we want you to take as few bags as possible into that relationship.

I think that's interesting because we, yeah, it is because Rachel and I talk about that quite a bit that we both bring in some really wonderful things from our past and traditions and values and experiences and our parents. But with those wonderful things we take to our, to our marriage, we also bring into your point baggage as well. And we take to our marriage, we also bring in, to your point, baggage as well. And we always talk about how do we keep the good things and try to leave these bad habits or bad experiences behind. And sometimes you don't even recognize that you're bringing them into the marriage.

Some of the bad habits that you've seen and accumulated over time, you don't recognize it unless you have someone in your life who can lovingly say, listen, this is not normal. This is not good. Let's try to drop this one. And again, I think that's part of growing in a marriage, taking the good and leaving the bad. I think it's interesting too, that you say that you had a rough couple of years of marriage and Sean and I did too. I think our first year of marriage was probably our hardest. And in a way I kind of, I'm kind of a fan of it. The older I get, the better I think that that was for us that, you know, we didn't have this like blissful couple years of like, you know, romanticizing marriage and and what it's like we really kind of we had a baby right away yeah we had a baby right away and we had we kind of had to love and

fight our way through that first first year and i feel like things have gone up from there obviously there's some been little peaks and valleys but i mean the first year of marriage for you guys was difficult but i'm sure you learned a lot through that. Oh, of course. You know, anytime you take two different personalities and I'm a youngest child and Alan is an oldest child. And whenever you put those two things together, sometimes chaos ensues. And it did in our relationship because I was spoiled and, you know, I really wanted whatever I wanted. And I was super independent being the oldest. And so those two didn't mesh very well for us. So it was all that sibling order stuff, by the way. I really believe that has a lot of

impact on people's personalities. That's fascinating. It does, Rachel, no doubt. Yeah. And I was a daddy's girl. And, you know, my dad, whenever I was growing up, got me whatever I wanted. It didn't matter, you know, what if he could afford it, you know. And so then I come in and right into this relationship, I made Alan my little G God. relationship, I made Alan my little G God. What do you mean by that? Well, I worshiped him more than I worshiped God. You know, from the sixth grade, I thought that he was going to be my knight in shining armor, and he was going to take me away from, you know, all the troubles. So then whenever I married him, I put him in the place of God. And, you know, he was above everything. And I thought he would be the one to make me

happy. I thought he would be the one to take care of all my needs. I thought he would be the one to supply me with, you know, everything I needed. And in that first year, I found out that wasn't true. But instead of looking into myself and saying, you know, this is not right. You really should, you know, put the big G God where he needs to go. I just continued on, you know, with Alan being the one person I never wanted to hurt. I never wanted to disappoint. But at the same time, it felt like that was all that I was doing in that first year was disappointing and hurting, you know? Yeah. And, you know, we've talked about it before. When you have a relationship with God and it's, he's not number one,

you know, and that becomes your driving force. It leads you to a lot of disappointment. And I think that's what happened with us. You know, most men think in their minds, man, if I were worshiped by my wife, you know, what better position could that be? But I realized that was, that was not good. A lot of pressure. A lot of pressure, exactly, because I can't live up to that standard. You know, I'm weak and fall short as well. And so, you know, that built up and accrued. And at the 15-year mark of our marriage, I mean, we just fell apart. And I was working for the church here locally. And so I was already kind of in a fishbowl, you know, with that, just because that's kind of the way it is in churches with leadership.

And so Lisa, you know, she got involved with a guy that we went to school with and she was working for our company at the time and it turned into a full blown affair. And then when that all ripped open, I mean, we were just we were so raw and it was so hard because, you know family obviously is you know very close and so Lisa worked for the business and so this thing had a huge impact on our entire lives and so we were we were crushed and uh at that point and that's when all those bags we were talking about earlier that's when they all flew open I mean you know it's just is imagine if you go and your family on vacation and every suitcase gets open and everything gets dumped out at the same time. And that's, that's the way our life was in that moment. And so that's really when we just finally fell to our knees and like, okay, we need help. We've got to figure out how to, how to be better. We've got to figure out how to do this the right way. And it started a slow healing process. And

we had a great counselor here locally, a woman who, you know, is just a saint. She's in I think she's in her 80s now. She's still counseling. We still send people to her. I told her that I helped her buy a second home with all the people I've sent. And that really started the process to where we are now. baggage gets flung open 15 years into the marriage, was there a desire to go, let's wrap it up, let's end this thing, let's go our separate ways? Or immediately were the two of you like, we need to try to work through this. And obviously that's a lot of work and a lot of pain and a lot

of forgiveness. How did you guys at the very start, because I think a lot of couples deal with these traumatic moments in their marriage, were you guys, again, let's fix this or like, let's, let's end it. Well, for me, and I'll let Lisa say where she was, I was numb and I had been, you know, thought I was crazy because I knew something was going on. I didn't think it was an affair, but I really did. And so, you know, I was in that whole place. And so when she finally broke and told the truth, I was just numb. You know, I just felt empty. I felt like I had nothing left. And I certainly had nothing for ministry, which is where I'd spent most of my life. And so I think I was ready, Sean, to just walk away. My family is wonderful as they are, really, because we had had a couple other instances

through our marriage. And so they pretty much thought, you know, this is not going to get any better. And so they weren't, you know, not really supportive of us staying together either. So I think I was in a point where I thought it was over, at least, you know, for the first few weeks. So was that you, Lisa, who was like, I want to fight for my marriage? Yes. And I'll tell you, you know, the night that everything happened, after I opened up and told Alan the truth and told him everything, I was empty. I mean, because I actually looked at myself in the mirror and thought, who is this person

that is capable of doing this? And, um, so whenever he told me that I needed to leave, um, I went out into the backyard. Um, it was just right outside our bedroom and, and we'd been trying to keep this quiet, you know, because our kids were at home and they were nine and 11, I believe at the time. And so, um, so I went out back and, you know, I just got to think and I thought what, I mean, I thought I was a Christian and I thought I had a relationship with Christ, but obviously I was wrong.

And, uh, so I laid down in the yard. And if I could have dug a hole, I would have because that's how low I felt. But at that moment, that's whenever I cried out to the father. I said, I thought I had a relationship with you. I thought, you know, that I was a Christian, but, you know, I'm looking at myself now and there's no way that I ever accepted you as my Lord and Savior. And, you know, at this point, Lord, I don't even know if I believe in you. There is so much stuff that's happened and I just don't even know if I believe that you're out there. But, you know, if you are, God, if you're out there, please, please come and rescue me. And it was almost like, and I can, you know, I can kind of feel the tingling of my shoulders.

It was almost as if a weight was totally lifted off my shoulders. And, you know, there was a porch light out there. So, you know, I saw the light, but know there was a porch light out there so i you know i saw the light but maybe that was the porch light but um but seriously at that point that's where that's where god came and got me now look he didn't wait for me to straighten up he didn't wait for me to dust off my clothes and get my life in order, look better. He came at that point whenever I was as nasty as I could be. And he picked me up and, you know, he, he set me on holy ground. And at that point I knew that no matter what happened between me and Alan, I wanted our relationship because again, I'd loved him my whole life. I wanted our relationship to work, but I knew that no matter what, now that I'd been rescued, you know, by my Savior, that it didn't matter.

This relationship did not matter. But I began at that point to pray for the desires of my heart. And that was for us to be together, you know, and for us to be an impactful couple for the Lord. It's been like a rocket ship ever since. Well, I was just going to say, I mean, there's so many things that were popping through my head as you were telling that, Lisa. The first is I had a priest once tell me that the only requirement, he was a wonderful, awesome priest. And he said, the only requirement for being a Christian is to be a sinner. Because if you're not a sinner, we don't need Christ. And I just think it's so interesting how no matter what happened,

renewing that relationship with Christ, you knew you were going to be okay. And also I think about how God uses everything for good. I mean, even this terrible situation, um, I think about the ministry that you have and how, I mean, just think about how many people you've touched the two of you, um, through your ministry, through your marriage retreats, through the talks you give around the country, how many, how many divorces, um, you've, you know, potential divorces you've repaired. I mean, it's just amazing how God works through these kinds of situations. We'll be back with much more after this.

Visa and OpenTable are dishing up something new. Get access to primetime dining reservations by adding your Visa Infinite Privilege Card to your OpenTable account. From there, you'll unlock first-come, first-served spots at select top restaurants when booking through OpenTable. Learn more at OpenTable.ca forward slash Visa Dining. Al, how long did it take you to realize that, you know, you wanted maybe to heal this relationship as well as Lisa? How long till you were on board? It took me a little bit. But, you know, in my heart, I figured out pretty quickly, Rachel, that I that I wanted.

I wanted I loved her. You know, I mean, in spite of the hurt and the anger and, you know, everything that goes along with that moment, I realized that I still loved her, that I saw something in her that maybe other people didn't see. And so I think deep down, I always wanted that. And I think and then it depended on her, you know, I mean, was she going to change and make some changes in herself and her relationship with God than ultimately with me? And, you know, I just had that capacity to forgive. And I love what the priest told you, because that's exactly right. And I looked at myself and I thought, you know, she had an affair, but I've contributed to where we are.

You know, there were so many things in my life. I had spent so much time, more time with the bride of Christ than I had my own bride. And, you know, because that's so interesting as a minister. Wow. Exactly. And so, so when I got to that point point where because I'm one of those that believe when you say the words, I forgive you, you have to mean it. And and I did. And so when that happened, I mean, it was just a whole new opportunity for us. And it took a few years of healing. And we call it scar tissue, you know, because it was, there were deep wounds, but you know, just like a surgery that, that when that scar tissue hardens, I mean, it's, it's solid. And that's, that's what's happened to us. And so then people started when we recovered

and began to thrive, people began to, you know, just send people to us. Cause they were like, well, somehow they got through it, go talk to them. So we kind of became the couple that was like, if all else fails, if they're in the worst possible place, send them down and Lisa, maybe they can do something. A ministry was born. That's right. I think, I think it's interesting when you mentioned forgiveness, you decided to forgive and you're a man of your word, but it seems like with forgiveness, sometimes it's a, it's a, it's a daily occurrence. You have to continually forgive. It's not maybe just a moment in time. How, how did, so you said you had 15 years of marriage, which, you know, obviously there were some issues there and then this traumatic,

you know, experience happens in the marriage. And then you start to, like you said, Al, it's a rocket ship that exploded after that. How was the marriage different after this crisis from before the crisis? How did it change? Well, I think initially, you know, we were very intentional about everything. We had had a lot of secrets, obviously, a lot of dishonesty. And so we just started living very transparently with each other, both ways, but especially Lisa. That's good advice, right? For merit, for people who are married. Absolutely. Absolutely. I would definitely encourage couples that the more you do,

and look, you can be together all the time. You guys are a great example of people that have had to be in different places and yet work to maintain and build a great. It's not easy though. It's better to be, it's better to be not easy though it's better to be it's better to be close together it's better to be and try and make that a priority i agree with that and we we say i mean we figured out sean that we we had to be open and transparent with each other we had to we had to communicate and you were right it's data we we decided we came up with the phrase aim small miss small because in the little things are what then build up to the big things later. And so we began to live a daily life of forgiveness and love and telling each other how we feel. And even to this day, 23 years later, we may do a conference somewhere and, you know, we're telling our story and we're open about it and we're still emotional about it. I mean,

we get to talking about it. We just did a marriage retreat this last weekend and all these couples are there. We're up on, you know, speaking and both of us are in tears because, you know, even after all these years, it's so real to us. But we just, you know, we've decided that that's what we're going to do is we're going to do that daily. And, you know, that's become our routine and our ritual about what we do. And so, you know, we like helping other people, ritual about what we do and so you know we like helping other people but we always know we have to stay healthy ourselves but it's you know forgiveness is a choice um it's it's not something that um you know you just wake up with every day it's something you have to think about every day, you know, and am I going to allow Satan to

throw my past back in my face or am I going to forgive and am I going to move on? And so that's what we have to do every day is be intentional with our choices, you know, and forgiveness is probably the most one of the most important things that's in our marriage now. ourselves and forgive our spouse. I want to talk to you about something. I met you for our listeners here. I met Al and Lisa at the Right to Life March. And I was interviewing them because they were there. They were going to speak at the march. And so they're obviously very pro-life people, but they're not just sort of theoretically pro-life. You're a couple that has, you know, pro-life. You're a couple that has, you know, the issue of life is personal, especially for you, Lisa. And you talked earlier, Al, about these suitcases that we bring into our marriage. And one of the suitcases that you hadn't unpacked, I imagine you had to unpack as you were trying to repair your marriage and where all this behavior and where all this

stuff came from, right, that led to this, you know, explosion in your marriage. One of them was abortion. And the reason I bring it up, and I know it's a touchy subject, but, you know, one in four women have in America have had an abortion. And so a lot of women are quietly suffering. And it's the one thing I think in our culture, we talk a lot about PTSD on all kinds of fronts, from war to, you know, abusive homes to all kinds of stuff. But the one thing you're not allowed to say there's PTSD from is abortion. you're not allowed to say there's PTSD from is abortion. And I believe from the conversations we have had in the past, Lisa, that, you know, this did have an impact on forming you and in what happened to you ultimately in your marriage. Well, I believe it did too. When we were talking

this weekend, I said, I feel as though I should have an A on my forehead because I had abuse in my life as a child. I had an abortion at 16 years old, and know, sometimes an A should be up there, but also I'm not defined by that any longer. And the reason why I speak out for the unborn is because I have a personal experience with what happens, you know, whenever you have an abortion and you feel as though there is nothing, there is no other thing that you can do. You know, it's, this is the only thing. And, um, and so whenever I speak, I always say the same thing. It's, you know, it's not your only choice, you know, um, you can have this baby and raise it, you know, and there are so many places out there that give you help. So many pregnancy centers out there. We speak at a lot of those. But then or you can have this baby and you can give this baby up for adoption. I mean,

there's so many people out there who are longing to adopt babies. And, you know, so I feel as though at 16, my mom and dad believed the lie. They thought it was a glob of tissue. They did not think it was a baby. That was what they told me. And then whenever I went to the abortion clinic, that was reiterated again. And, you know, that was one of the lies that they told me that day. But, you know, what I find interesting is, is I think probably the worst lie that they told

me that day was after you leave here, you can go on about your life and not ever think about this again. And I was 16 and I just turned 56. So that's been 40 years. And I would say that probably there's not been a day that's gone by that I have not thought of the decision that I made because I took a life. I know now that life begins at conception. And so I took a life. I took a generation of lives. You know, I had that would have been my child and I have six grandchildren now, but that would have meant more grandchildren. And so it's, I just want women to know, think about the decision that you're making because this, you know, this life that you're taking, don't believe the lie. The devil is the father of lies, isn't he? That's exactly right. And he puts a little bit of truth, Rachel, in every lie, because you've got to have just a

little bit of truth in there or you won't believe it. You know, if he just comes out and he's just blatant with it, you're not going to believe it, but he puts just a little bit of truth in there. And, um, you know, and that's how we all fall for it. Yeah. And it's, it's, um, it's so true. There's a little bit of truth in every lie and he is the master of deception. I can tell you, I, when I, when I listened to the two of you talk and which is why your ministry must be so powerful is that you're so honest and so open about your lives. And a lot of people aren't, don't want to be open. They want to stay, stay closed down.

But when you guys talk about your marriage and the difficulty and, you know, whether it's infidelity or abortion and the struggles of our families past, it, it, it, it, maybe it comes from some, some, some dark points in your life, but it just is this array, the light radiates from them and give so much hope. And I think because in every part of your story, there's nuggets that touch people in their marriages or in their lives. And if you can get through it, if you can figure out a way to forgive, figure out a path back to Jesus, so too can I in my own marriage. And I think that's, that's why I think it's so great that you guys are so honest, you know, talking about what you guys have gone through. And again,

I think with marriages, we all have difficulty and challenges and secrets. And I just, I love how honest you are telling your story. And about something so important. I mean, I, we, we were interviewing the Bonchinos and, and Dan, you know, he's such a movement conservative. Right. I mean, he's so passionate about, you know, talking about what's wrong with our country. And our conversation was a lot about, you know, he came from a broken home. His wife came from a broken home. And if you look at so many of the social ills in our country, it really comes down to broken families, to fatherlessness. And, you know, great, great families are the solution to America. And you don't great families, great marriages are the foundation of great families. And I think we're such a throwaway culture where, you know, when things don't feel right or things get hard, we just want to throw it away. I mean, that's that's really the story of abortion, right? As well. But that's sort of the culture we live in. And what I love about what you're doing and in this honesty,

this brutal, painful honesty that you've, you know, given America, given the people who come to you through your ministry is to say, this is worthwhile. Marriage is worthwhile. Don't throw it away. That person that you loved, don't throw them away. We'll have more of this conversation after this. Your teen requested a ride, but this time not from you. It's through their Uber teen account. It's an Uber account that allows your teen to request a ride under your supervision with live trip tracking and highly rated drivers. Add your teen to your Uber account that allows your teen to request a ride under your supervision with live trip tracking and highly rated drivers. Add your teen to your Uber account today.

culturally speaking and how you've used your platform as reality stars and as people in the public eye and as ministers. I can't imagine being a pastor and this coming out. I mean, it seems so, you know, scandalous, right? I mean, but you've used this to elevate the importance of marriage. No, you're so right, Rachel. And you know, it's a, it, there's no, it's no accident. The evil one has to be behind what we're seeing in our, in our culture and in our country because of the destruction and the attempted destruction of the family. You know, you have whole areas, whole communities that have no connection to a mom and a dad, many being raised by a grandparent or, you know, some, or someone else or not even a gang or a gang. That's exactly right. Their community is so unhealthy.

And even this latest sort of kind of I don't know what Marxist socialist movement you notice in a lot of their platforms. It's, you know, get rid of the nuclear family, get rid of this patriarchy, get rid of the you know, this thing that's made America so bad from their perspective. But nothing could be further from the truth. And so I do feel like at least I feel like we're a couple of beggars that found some bread and we want to share with other people where to find that bread. I mean, that's we were in that hopeless place and we want to provide hope. And I really do believe our culture will come around, but it'll be one family at a time, one marriage at a time. And so, you know, if enough people are willing to be transparent and talk about it, like you guys are doing your podcast, like we're doing, then we do start to make a difference. We do give hope people. We wrote

our first book. It's called A New Season. It was our life story and we were on sean hannity you know our good friend we were on his radio show and you know sean looked at us and of course you know the show was out then this was very popular and sean said you know why would you guys write all this stuff down in a book i mean like this is there's some bats he's looking like you yeah he said people love your family Why would you tell all this stuff? And so I was like, well, Sean, because we, we want people to have hope because we know there are people out there that are just so hopeless in their situation or their marriage or their family. And we want them to know that, you know, it can change.

You really can't bounce back. And he said, well, I don't know. There's things I haven't even told my wife, you know, and I never will. And Lisa's immediately said, well, I'm glad I'm not married to you, Sean. And it was so funny. His crew and staff were laughing. But, you know, it's a great question. Most people don't want to talk about difficult things. I was just speaking to an audience of teenagers recently, a big group of teens.

And I said, you know, this stuff I'm telling you guys was 40 years ago. Do you think I like talking about this? I mean, it's the most embarrassing time of my life, but the reason I'm telling you this and back to the bag analogy, I said, I don't want you, I want you to have like a briefcase going into your adult life, not a whole big, you know, U-Haul full of stuff. And so, so, you know, if experience is the best teacher, let my experience be a better teacher and it'll save you a lot of pain. So I think that becomes the really just kind of the nucleus of what we're trying to do. And what I like about the message is that by sharing your story, it's really difficult, but marriage is difficult. And I think anything that's rewarding in life is challenging. I watched the Superbow Bowl on Sunday and all of the athletes there have gone through incredible pain and training and effort to be top performers in football.

Or if you start a business, the effort that goes into business to have the success of a business is really time consuming and takes a lot of effort. Politics is the same thing. Like when I ran for Congress, I mean, it consumed me and Rachel, but everything we do that's rewarding takes a lot of effort and marriage is no different. And I think this message in culture is marriage is really easy. You fall in love. And if we get in fights and don't get along, well, something must be wrong with the person that I chose and let's move on to find somebody else. But the truth is, every marriage is going to be challenging. Every marriage is going to be difficult.

But if you stick it through, if you work through it, the reward on the other side is amazing. And the institution is beautiful. And I think so many people don't do what you two did, which is go, we're going to fight for our marriage. We're going to work through it and have the reward of this fulfilling life together and the fruits of kids and grandkids and, you know, sharing cups of coffee. I think that is just, I mean, I think that is, I mean, again, I love being married to Rachel. We've been married for 23 years. We've had hard times as well. The start of our marriage was really challenging. And we all have moments, you know, that we go through and we have other moments in our marriage that are challenging, but we've stuck through it.

We've forgiven. And I love her now more than I did when I first married her. And again, I think that's, what's important for young couples that it's not easy, but it's worthwhile. I also love how you're using this even for your own family. When we were on your podcast, Lisa, I was just so impressed with you and the way you said, you know, again, that honesty, it's so refreshing. You're like, you know, maybe I wasn't the best mom. I think all of us moms feel that way one time or another, but these experiences I have, I'm going to be a great grandma. And I see that, you know, Al, when you said I talked to these teenagers, I know that your kids, you know, are benefiting from the lessons that you guys have learned. And,

and, and I know that you say you're not your kids counselors and if they need, you know, counseling that they go and get that somewhere else. And, and I think that was, that was really interesting to hear you discuss that, um, when we were on your podcast, but still the example that you've set for your own family, that, you know, anything that's broken, God can heal and what could be more important than marriage. And you guys are just, I think, a light in America about what to value and what's important. And, you know, we talked to you about it on our podcast. I mean, we had so much, we were bright eyed and bushy tailed

and so hopeful that, you know, we could change America if Sean just went to Washington. We made a lot of sacrifices to do it, and we're very proud of the work that Sean did and the sacrifices our family made. But ultimately, America is not going to change in Washington. America is not going to change because you got a new senator, a new congressman, or a new mayor, or even a new school board. America is going to change, as you said, one family, one marriage at a time. We're all broken and we all can be healed. I just want to give you both a last word for our viewers.

Well, go ahead. Well, I think my word would be honesty. You know, whenever, um, I was, um, seven years old is whenever, um, the abuse started in my life and I couldn't tell anybody. Um, and so I learned to be dishonest, um, or just to not be truthful. And that carried on, um, all the way through until I was 33 years old, whenever I decided to, um to follow Christ. But the word that Christ kept coming back to me with was honesty, honesty, honesty. And so now in our ministry and in our marriage, that's the most important thing to me. That's what I feel as though the Lord wants out of me.

Be honest. Tell people what happened and, you know, work through it. Allow God to heal you and move on. And I believe that honesty and forgiveness is two of the most important things in our marriage. And my final word is just thanks. I said on our podcast that you guys, you know, you're heroes to Lisa and I because you were in reality TV, which we know that world, but also in government and politics and then now in cable news. So I was like, if you guys can have a healthy marriage and a great family in

those three arenas, as you have done, I tip my hat to you. So I wanted your audience to know that, too. You guys are making a big deal. You're our favorite couple on Fox because you're really the only ones we get to see both of you, you know, together. And so we love what you're doing. We're really impressed. I appreciate that. And I can just, at least when you said honesty, it's like when you're honest with people, it lifts this weight off you. You, when you can actually say it, you, you, you drop the baggage and you walk lighter, which is, I think really important quickly. If people want to go to one of your retreats, I don't know.

Or go to figure out, learn more about your story. I know you have the unashamed podcast. What a great name, but also you have a website, correct? We do. It's al and Lisa Robertson.com. And we do regular blogs on there and we, you know, put up where we're going to be and things like that, materials and stuff like that for marriage. So it's really dedicated more to marriage and to pro-life and kind of the causes we're working with. Love it. I just love it. I guess, you know, you talk about we're in all these different facets of life, especially media, and one of the great things about media

is that we have gotten to meet people we wouldn't meet otherwise. And I think getting, I just felt so instantly connected to you guys when we were freezing out there in the cold at the Right to Life March. I had no idea how much, you know, both of us, you know, both of us as couples have a mission to, you know, build up America's families and build up American marriages. And I just feel so connected to you. I just feel like I need to go to Louisiana one day. Thank you. Love it. I would feel like I need to go to Louisiana one day. I love it.

I would love to do that. And I just again, just thank you for what you're doing. Thank you for your friendship. And thank you for joining us on this podcast. You guys are an inspiration. Oh, thank you. Thanks, guys. Thanks so much for joining us. You guys rock.

We just love you guys. When you come to Louisiana, we want you to bring the whole brood. We're going to go out to Miss Kay's and talk about a kitchen table. We'll get around. Be careful with those kinds of invites. I don't do them lightly. We love big. All of our family celebrations are big. That's right. I love it.

One quick thing I was telling Rachel, I love how they have the compound. I want a compound too. How do we get a compound? We need our compound in Florida. We want them all around us. Rachel's committed. Your crew's going to do it.

You got to go someplace warm though. Rachel, you need to get in touch with me because I'm selling real estate in Alabama. But I listen to you. I love it. someplace warm though. Rachel, you need to get in touch with me cause I'm, I'm selling real estate in Alabama, but I love it. What's the weather there now? Was it, is it warm? You guys,

it's actually, it's, it was cool this morning cause it was in the thirties, but it's going to hit 70 today. So it's going to be Wednesday supposed to be 78. So that's why we, you know, we're all coughing and clearing our throat all the time.

It's because one day it could be 35 and the next day it's 70. Yeah, it is. I need to get... We have to get to warm country, for sure. I love Wisconsin, but it's a little too cold. We keep lobbying Fox to move out of New York. It's such a mess here.

It is. That's right. I don't know why they don't go to Florida or Nashville. Get to a red state. That's such a mess here. It is. I don't know why they don't go to Florida or Nashville. Get to the red state. That's right. I totally agree. Well, anyway, great talking to you guys. We're so grateful. Thank you guys. Well, thank you so much, Al and Lisa, for joining us at the

Kitchen Table. What a great conversation, Sean. Those guys are awesome. They are awesome. I could talk to them forever. I don't want to have to have them back one of these days. Well, we've enjoyed the conversation And if you did too, let us know, subscribe, rate, and review this podcast at foxnewspodcast.com or wherever you download your podcast. Sean, maybe we have to do a little reality show. We'll take our kids down to Louisiana and we'll do a Duffy and Duck Dynasty. Reality means reality. Yeah, reality means reality. All right. We hope to see you guys all around our kitchen table next week. Goodbye, everybody.

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