The family of Duck Dynasty patriarch Phil Robertson has revealed he’s been diagnosed with Alzheimer’s Disease.
On the Friday (December 6) episode of the Unashamed with the Robertson Family podcast, the 78-year-old’s sons Jase and Al announced his diagnosis, stating that it comes alongside a long-standing blood disease that has worsened in recent years.
“I think I spoke on the 1000th podcast, we were trying to figure out the diagnosis, but according to the doctors, he has some sort of blood disease causing all kinds of problems,” Jase said.
Jase explained that Robertson’s Alzheimer’s is in its early stages, but it has begun to affect his daily life. Despite the challenges, they said their father remains eager to contribute to their Christian podcast, which they launched in 2018.
“I’m like, ‘Well Phil, you can barely walk around without crying out in pain, and your memory is not what it once was.’ He’s like, ‘Tell me about it,’” Jase said, adding that his father struggles to hold conversations but remains determined.
Al noted that his father has lived with the blood disease for years, though its progression has recently accelerated. Jase added that the family is working closely with medical professionals. “We’ve got a team of doctors, and then we have another set of doctors who are looking at all the tests, and they’re all in agreement that there’s no curing what he has,” he said.
This isn’t the first time the Robertsons have gone public with their struggles.
Robertson has been open about his history with alcoholism and infidelity. In a 2013 short film titled The Robertsons, produced by the Christian group I Am Second, both Robertson and his wife, Kay, discussed the challenges these issues brought to their marriage.
At the time, Kay recounted, “The drinking got worse... And I knew then but I didn’t want to believe it; [he] was running around on me.”
Robertson and his family rose to fame on the A&E series Duck Dynasty, which aired from 2012 to 2017. The popular reality show followed the lives of the Louisiana-based duck hunters.
In 2013, A&E suspended the patriarch for claiming homosexuality was one step away from bestiality in a GQ interview.
GLAAD, the Gay and Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation, described Robertson’s GQ comments as “one of the vilest and most extreme statements uttered against LGBT people in a mainstream publication.”
He explored the backlash in his 2022 book, Uncanceled: Finding Meaning and Peace in a Culture of Accusations, Shame, and Condemnation.
