Korie Robertson: 'The Church Needs to Lead in Racial Healing'

For five years, the Robertson family entertained millions of viewers with their reality show Duck Dynasty, breaking the record for the most-watched nonfiction cable series in TV history. 

CBN News recently interviewed Korie Robertson to find out what her family's life is like now that the series has ended. 
 
"We were totally surprised it was such a hit. We thought it was funny, but we had no idea," Robertson said. "There is no way to predict or expect that it was going to do what it did."

Although it was not considered a Christian show, the Robertsons' expressed their faith in each episode. Korie told CBN News how she feels it resonated with the audience and why she thinks TV needs more wholesome family programs. 
 
"I think other believers need to step up and get into entertainment, because entertainment really does affect our country, and it affects us in a big way," she said. "We'd hear people say, I can watch it with my 3-year-old, or my granddad, and I don't have to worry about what's going to be on television. And that is rare for television today and I think that the success of our show should have sent a pretty strong message that this is really what people want," Robertson explained.

From the very first episode, the Robertson family sent a strong message praying together to end each show.  
 
"It just became this really big deal. It made such an impact. And as we heard stories from other people, people would just come up and say you know we're sitting down as a family and our children won't let us eat before we say a prayer because of your show. It just really had an impact on families all over the country," Robertson recalled. 

While Korie and her family are adjusting to life away from the cameras, they're not out of the spotlight. She recently made headlines when she got emotional in an interview with CNN discussing racial issues in America. It's an issue that hits close to home in her biracial family. 

"We have to stand up, and we should be emotional about things like that and we have to stand up and talk about it," Roberton asserted. "When our family hit mainstream and all the sudden all of America's watching, they noticed our son's biracial and we got comments and we got hate and negativity and we were actually targeted by white supremacists at one point. So it's just shocking and scary and sad to know that that still exists in our country."

"I think we've come a long way but it's still there sadly. I can't believe people still do this, but it's always going to be shocking when someone thinks they're better than someone else just because of the color of their skin. That should always shock us, and we should always fight against that," she continued.

Robertson says she believes the church should step up and be the leader for racial healing in our country.
 
"I think we need to speak up, and we need to talk about it. Sometimes we kind of just don't talk about it because maybe in some ways we don't know what to say. We don't want to make a mistake. We want to be politically correct, so we just stay silent and hope that it gets better, and that's really not the way to healing," she said. "You know we do have to talk about it and we have to have open dialogue, and open conversation about it, and we have to act, we have to show that this is not the way to be, and we have to show that by our actions and by what we do."

Robertson thinks Christians need to go to God in prayer for our President and our country.

"I think it has been a rough couple of years with the election and President Trump because he does say a lot of things that I don't agree with and they don't match up with my values so that has been hard," she said. "But I think that as Christian women we can't just put our head in the sand." 

"I think that this is a time that we need to figure out how to come together, how to find that commonality, find the common ground, find the things that we do agree on and how to work towards a more peaceful, a more unified country," Robertson reasoned. "A big part of that is just going to God in prayer and just taking it to him."

Robertson's daughter Sadie is taking her mother's advice. She posted a video recently to Youtube praying for our president and our country. 

Sadie also recently shared her struggles with an eating disorder that she at first hid from her family. 

"Well as a family, one of the things we really always have tried to do is just be real, talk about anything, and we talk to our children about our own struggles and we leave it open for them to talk to us," Korie Robertson said. "But that was something that she didn't tell me about at the time."

"As a mom, it just breaks your heart to hear that your child is going through that, but I'm so thankful that she is able to use that, and use how she overcame that, how God overcame that through her, and how she overcame it through God," she continued. "And she's able to talk to other girls and encourage other girls, because it is something that is such a struggle for so many young girls and women of all ages." 
 
"If we don't talk about it, we keep things in the darkness. Then Satan has power over them. But if we bring them to the light then God can do his work," Robertson related. 

Hollywood didn't intend on putting the Robertson's faith on display for six seasons, but there are some things even editing can't hide. 
 
"From the beginning, we've said it's not like we're going to be preaching on this show, but they're not going to get around it because our faith informs everything that we do," Robertson said.

CBN News asked Robertson if the television series was an accurate depiction of their lives.

"You know it really was. I mean it's a television show and there has to be a story line and a beginning and an end, but it really was us," she said. "It really is who we are and we really fought hard for that from the very beginning. We tried to be true to who we are the whole time."

As for what's next, Robertson says she really doesn't know yet, but she is praying for God's guidance as her family begins the newest season of their lives.