The Untold Truth Of Sadie Robertson
Before it's cancellation in 2016, Duck Dynasty was a rating juggernaut for A&E until the patriarch of the duck call empire, Phil Robertson, made homophobic comments to GQ. Robertson was suspended indefinitely by the network, but the show remained on the air for three more seasons to the dismay of many. The viewership the West Monroe, Louisiana family, once enjoyed never recovered, and after 11 seasons, the show vanished from the airwaves without much fanfare.
Although for a reality show known for outrageous beards and camouflage, the breakout star was Sadie Robertson — the then teenage daughter of Duck Commander CEO Willie Robertson and granddaughter of Phil Robertson. Still outspoken and steadfast regarding her faith like her grandfather before her, Sadie displayed remarkable poise and class instead. This decision didn't protect her from criticism or her share of tabloid headlines, however. From controversial takes of her own to her public breakups, here's the untold truth of Sadie Robertson.
Josh Duggar made a "mistake"
In 2015, several bombshells exploded directly on 19 Kids and Counting. It was learned that the eldest of the Duggar clan, Josh Duggar, molested five underage girls (including four of his sisters), had two separate Ashley Madison accounts which are "aimed at clients seeking extramarital affairs," and reportedly paid stripper and porn star, Danica Dillon, $1,500 for sex. The fallout was brutal, and the show got summarily canceled. Naturally, the general public had no sympathy for the eldest Duggar son and his parents who allegedly covered up the molestation claims. Sadie Robertson was not the general public.
"They almost canceled Duck Dynasty whenever my grandpa said the things that he said, and that would have been, in my opinion, not a very good decision, because that was putting one man's words in all of our mouths," Sadie told People. "Josh Duggar, that's not his whole family. His whole family didn't do that. He made a mistake."
A mistake? We guess that's one way to say it. Sadie continued her assessment of the situation by asking a lot of Josh Duggar's wife and sisters.
"It's been kind of a secret for a long time, and everybody knows, when secrets come out, it's not fun. Secrets are hard. You shouldn't keep secrets," she explained. "At this point it is what it is, and so they're just going to have to make the best out of it.... If they can forgive him, it will all work out."
Crushing on Justin Bieber for Jesus
Justin Bieber has been super down for JC lately, and he's publicly demonstrated his faith by regularly attending Hillsong Church in Beverly Hills. Headed up by "rock star pastor," Carl Lentz, the praise-worship enclave has seen a diverse group of stars ranging from Bono to Vanessa Hudgens to Nick Jonas to Hailey Baldwin walk through it's doors. Bieber has also done his part to expand the congregation by bringing in Selena Gomez and model Baskin Champion.
Bieber shouting out Christ is a fact not lost on Sadie Roberston, and during a sit down with E! News to promote her Hallmark Channel TV movie Sun, Sand & Romance, she wasted no time when asked the identity of her celebrity crush. "Now that Justin Bieber is going to all these Christian conferences, I'm like hit me up, Biebs."
Depending on your connotative interpretation of "hit me up," we think it's a given that Bieber's version might not come with Sadie's family's approval. Be careful out there, Sadie!
She found the cure for anxiety
According to the Christian Post, after the release of her book, Live Fearless: A Call to Power, Passion, and Purpose, Sadie Robertson created a "four-day devotional on the YouVersion Bible app," to share her favorite Bible passages which helped the motivational speaker in "overcoming her struggles with anxiety."
"Sadie will inspire and encourage you, as each day she shares one of her favorite Bible passages, then challenges you to push through your fears and anxieties, to break into the life of purpose that God has for you," a description of the exclusive video content explains.
"Even just thinking of it as kind of a form of social media because you get to this place where you can read your Bible, read truth but then you also get to form this community with the body of Christ," Sadie said, understanding her target audience. "So it's really a beautiful app and it really has transformed even just the depth of my study life."
So, move over psychiatrists with your degrees in dealing with anxiety disorders. There's an app for that.
Her relationships are good media business
Much like anyone who dates Taylor Swift, if you ever find yourself in a relationship with Sadie Robertson, you might read all of your post-breakup business making the rounds on celebrity gossip blogs. In 2016, she split from former high school quarterback, Blake Coward, and in a post on her Live Original blog (per Fox News), she claimed the pair broke up because they were "passionate." Uh oh.
"We would go through this unhealthy pattern of 'I hate you, I love you. I hate that I love you.' The world makes that seem like such a normal, attractive concept through movies and music, but let me tell you, it definitely is not. We figured out the hard way that all it leaves you with is a lot of hurt, loneliness and confusion." After saying "fear, jealousy, pain, selfishness, impurity, [and] manipulation," were all part of their relationship, Sadie ended the post with: "Ps : This was Sadie written and Blake approved. I know what y'all were thinking, all is well mates."
Less than a year later, Sadie had moved on to former Texas A&M quarterback, Trevor Knight. We see a pattern here, Sadie. They broke up a month later. "Trevor is a great guy, but our schedules are just so busy right now," Robertson told Us Weekly. "He's in the middle of football season, and I'm about to start my tour, so the timing just didn't work."
If Justin Bieber ever learns to play quarterback, it's going to be game over.
Brett Eldredge and the country music video star
In 2017, Sadie starred in country music star Brett Eldredge's video for "The Long Way." He was 31 at the time. So how did Brett find the teenager to play his girlfriend? Creeping her Instagram even though they had never met, of course.
"I had seen her social media and I just thought she had an amazing spirit," Eldredge told Certified Country (per ET). "I thought she was sweet and had an energy, and just so much passion. I thought, 'This is a girl that has so much heart. This is the kind of girl you wanna take home and meet the fam. This is, like, take the long way around their town and get to know them. This is a deep heart and a deep soul person...' I was like, 'We need somebody like Sadie!' and they were like, 'Why don't we just ask Sadie?'" Eldredge continued. "It was a magical shoot."
Apparently, the chemistry between the two was so strong in the video that it started rumors about the pair dating in real life. Eldredge was quick to shoot that down.
"She did an amazing job and somehow people thought we were dating for a while. It's like, 'No, we're just good, new friends,'" the singer told Taste Of Country. "We just met that day and we hit it off as friends."
Gotta work on your spiral, dude.
She found the cure for eating disorders
Sadie was crowned runner-up of Dancing With The Stars in 2014, but with that success also came struggle. "I had three and a half months of this intense training and also I'd come out and I have this body. I'm like, 'Oh wow.' Not that I even ever cared about my body or even thought twice about it, but all of a sudden, you have it," Sadie said during a podcast interview with Hollywood Life. "You don't mean to but that can start to become what you identify yourself with. It becomes your identity. When that began to go, I think my confidence began to go, which was a really big wake up call for me. That's when the eating disorder started off actually, no, this is not good."
Luckily, Sadie found the cure for her eating disorder after breaking up with her boyfriend of three years, Blake Coward.
"For me, it was hitting rock bottom and it was a wake up call. Honestly, it was the day that my boyfriend and I had broken up and it had nothing to do with him. But it was just the moment that I was really broken and I was really upset. I remember that day. I was like crying and I looked in the mirror and I literally couldn't even recognize myself because I actually saw myself for who I am and I actually saw myself for the first time. I believe, for who God created me to be."
Her strange choice of prom date
The good news? Her ex-boyfriends and eating disorder were no longer part of her life. The bad? She no longer had a date to the prom. The solution? Her cousin, Cole Robertson.
"Making mems with the fam is the best, because we can laugh about them forever," she posted on Instagram with a photo of the pair at the prom. "Thank you for always being there cuz! couldn't do life without you!"
The Sadie/Cole Prom Experience quickly turned into social media Robertson family affair.
"Feels like yesterday that these two were building forts in the yard. Last night was their senior prom @littlecoleofcereal. What an awesome man of God you have become. So proud of you, and @legitsadierob," Cole's mom, Korie Robertson, gushed on Instagram after snapping the above picture. "I love every single thing about you! You were drop dead gorgeous last night, and your sweet spirit is even more beautiful than what we see on the outside. Your inner beauty shines through. #proudmom#strongandkindkids
"I mean who wouldn't have fun this date? Had a blast with you cuz we should do this more often," Cole joined in with a now-deleted Instagram post of his own. Yeah, we get why that was deleted. Once is probably enough.
Social norms be damned, shout out to Sadie for effectively picking a chaperone who she could also have fun with to be her prom date. That's a pretty wholesome loophole if we say so ourselves.
Models don't like her
Sadie walked the runway during 2013's New York Fashion Week to unveil her "dad approved" prom dress collection, but the models she encountered weren't exactly ready to vote her prom queen. In what could be the plot of a fish out of water movie for CMT, Sadie claims her southern charm was met with not-so-passive-aggressiveness from the catwalk pros. "They just looked at me like they had icicles in their eyes," she wrote in her book Live Original (per Radar Online). "Without using words, they sent me a strong message: 'What are you doing here?'"
Intimidated at first, Sadie says she slowly came to the conclusion that it wasn't hate being thrown her way, just "a lot of insecurities."
"They were pretty obsessed with their weight, so instead of having snacks or treats, they smoked cigarettes and drank coffee... They were quiet, and they seemed either sad or kind of angry. They cared way too much about their outward appearance — and confidence is an inside thing," Sadie shot back. "If people try to become confident by trying to make themselves look better or feel better, they will never get there."
Who knows? Maybe the models just needed to break up with their boyfriends to get their inside confidence back.
"I could have totally lost it over the comments people made and the icy looks they gave me," the teen fashion designer concluded. "But I didn't. God had been training me all my life...to be strong and confident."
She doesn't like the fashion industry
Four years later, Sadie found herself orbiting the fashion industry yet again, unfortunately with similar results. Not waiting to discuss her experiences in a book, Sadie took to Facebook to unleash her epic rant.
"A few months ago I showed up for a photoshoot that I had thought was going to be a natural no makeup photoshoot... the director of the shoot took a quick look at me and said 'nope this girl does not have the face to pull off a no makeup shoot' so they proceeded to spend around 2 hours making it look as though I had no makeup on. Let's be real I did NOT wake up like that. I have never thought of myself as a model, but getting to dip my toes a little in this industry I've heard shocking things, had my stomach 'fat' pinched to make sure I knew which part I needed to get rid of. I've been told if I would loose (sic) 10 pounds then I may look like an actual model, yet all the while I just smile, laugh, eat and dance my way through the shoots."
As usual, Sadie cooled off enough to bring some positivity.
"I believe EVERYONE has the face to pull off a 'no makeup shoot' because that is YOUR FACE. The makeup is the extra. It's fun, but when it becomes your everything that's when you begin to loose (sic) everything about what makes you... YOU."
Hard to argue that logic.
Prayers up for Trump?
In a YouTube post entitled "Prayer For Our Country," Sadie Robertson pleaded with her subscribers to send President Trump some love on Twitter. Even though she claims she doesn't "even like Twitter," she chose the social media platform because it's "obviously where Trump is." No argument there, Sadie. He seems to dig it.
Per CBN News, Sadie informed "Mr. Trump" (if he happened to be watching), that she was "rooting" him on and believed "the best" in him before leading a prayer on his behalf. "I so desperately want for this country to come together," she prayed while wearing a New York Yankees hat. "I pray for the hearts tonight in America, that they would become convicted to not live a comfortable lifestyle of hiding from what they know to be right because they are scared to speak it out. I pray for a repentant country tonight, that we will ask for your forgiveness for the things we have done, and I am so sorry God for the way that we have turned."
We're sure you can find a corner of the Internet where it's up for debate if God cares about America's politics, or if Trump is holding up his end of this prayer, but Sadie's gesture was lovely nonetheless. However, the video cut off as she was saying "amen," so maybe that explains it.