Duck Dynasty star Alan “Al” Robertson is looking back on how he and wife Lisa Robertson overcame their marriage woes following her affair.
“When unfaithfulness happens in a marriage, so many times, that’s the end of it, but it doesn’t have to be,” Al, 61, said in an interview with Fox News Digital published on Friday, May 15. “Everything can be worked through.”
Al, who is the eldest son of Phil and Kay Robertson, shared that he was “willing to fight” for his and Lisa’s marriage because he “made a lot of mistakes” of his own.
“When I first met Lisa, she was actually a good girl, who had experienced some hard things in her life up until that point, but really was looking for what she called her ‘knight in shining armor,’ someone to take her hand and lead her out of some things,” he recalled. “And I just wasn’t that guy in the early years.”
The couple were high school sweethearts and dated on and off before tying the knot in 1984. Al and Lisa went on to welcome daughters Anna and Alex. While Lisa raised their children, Al became a pastor at the church his family attended for years. He eventually found himself occupied and traveling for work, which left Lisa feeling lonely.
“To be quite honest with you, I made a huge mistake in not pulling Lisa in as a partner in what we were doing, in my career and my dreams,” he told the outlet. “[She] was also dealing with all this internal stuff from when she was young. I just didn’t recognize it. I didn’t see it.”
Lisa ended up reconnecting with an ex-boyfriend — and Al found out.
“I think for the first few weeks, I was leaning toward thinking that it was probably over,” he reflected. “I was just not sure if I could ever fully trust again. [I wasn’t] sure Lisa really wanted to be in our marriage. Do you really know if your spouse wants to stay? Do they want something more than you have to offer?”
During that rough part of her and Al’s marriage, Lisa had an epiphany while praying in her yard.
“Once I turned my life over to the Lord, out in the backyard, when I finally called out to God, He came and met me right there in the backyard,” she told the outlet on Friday. “From that day forward, I think I knew I could make it because I’d never called on Him before. I’d never asked for His help and asked Him to rescue me. [But] He came, and He rescued me. I think that was the most important thing I did.”
In addition to finding strength through her faith, Lisa sought out counseling. As Lisa made an effort to change, Al forgave her.
“What changed my mind and heart about Lisa was her,” he said. “It was obvious to me from talking to friends who were with her that she wanted this marriage to stay together. She was very sorry for what had happened. She had finally come to a reckoning in her own life. She was dealing with a lot of her past through counseling, through people who were helping her life.”
Lisa and Al renewed their vows in 1999 and have been going strong since.
