Where Sadie and Korie Robertson Stand With Phil's Secret Daughter
Not even a family bombshell can break up this dynasty.
Back in 2020, Duck Dynasty patriarch Phil Roberston discovered that he fathered a daughter from an affair he had decades ago. A DNA tested showed he was a 99.9 percent match with Phyllis Thomas, leading the family—including Phil's adult sons Willie Robertson, Jep Robertson, Jase Robertson and Alan Robertson—to welcome her into the fold.
So, where do they all stand with Phyllis today? According to Sadie Robertson and Korie Robertson, who is Phil's granddaughter and daughter-in-law respectively, the family is closer than ever.
In fact, Sadie exclusively told E! News' Francesca Amiker that she recently caught up with Phyllis during a lunch date. "It was so good," she said. "I was just sitting with her like, 'This is so crazy! I'm talking to my aunt that I didn't know for so long, but now you're my dad's sister.'"
The 26-year-old continued, "It's such a beautiful thing that we get to have this relationship."
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Korie credited the family's "amazing" dynamic to Phil's longtime wife and high school sweetheart Kay Robertson for being so accepting of Phyllis.
"Whenever Phyllis came into the family and we found out," Korie recalled, "Kay, from day one, just welcomed her with opened arms. She became part of the family very early on."
Since then, Phyllis has been invited to various Robertson gatherings, including Christmas dinner and a special family preview of The Blind, a biopic centered around Phil's younger years living in Louisiana during the 1960s.
Out in theaters Sept. 28, the film also depicts Phil's past struggles with alcoholism, as well as the toll his infidelity took on his marriage to Kay before turning his life around.
"It's even more so about Kay and her life story," Korie said of the movie. "Kay had to choose to forgive him."
The 49-year-old continued, "That choice to forgive is so powerful. Forgiveness is a powerful thing in any of our lives—no matter if it's as big as what Phil and Kay went through or smaller. In marriage and in life, you have to be able to forgive and move forward."
Sadie said it was Kay's selfless decision to forgive Phil decades ago that allowed the matriarch to be so welcoming to Phyllis when they learned of her paternity.
"If grandma Kay hadn't forgiven Phil 40 years ago, there's no way she could've welcomed Phyllis with open arms like that," she explained. "She already knew everything that happened—she didn't know there was a daughter, but she knew how bad it was—and there was a lot of confessions, repentance, forgiveness."
The Dancing With the Stars alum added that forgiveness also helped the family realize "something beautiful came out" of a difficult time.
"If you're willing to walk through the hard things," she noted, "walk past that regret, you can open your heart to receive the beautiful things."
The Blind hits theaters on Sept. 28.
