Jep Robertson Reveals Past Sex Abuse
- Carrie Dedrick
- Updated Jun 11, 2015
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“Duck Dynasty” star Jep Robertson has revealed the sexual abuse he endured as a 6-year-old boy in a new book. The announcement comes only weeks after Josh Duggar was found to have sexually abused five young girls as a teenager, including his younger sisters.
In an interview, Robertson said that an older girl on the school bus started sitting with him, then abusing him.
"Basically, I was young. I was 6 and it was on the school bus and it was an older girl (who) was just real mean... In the end, I think probably she was just terribly abused herself," Robertson said.
The reality star continued, "A lot of things took place—and scary stuff. You know, it was tough. I didn't want to go to school. I had a lot of absences. My mom always thought I was sick and there was definitely other reasons I didn't want to go to school.”
Robertson said it took years to tell his wife, Jessica, about the abuse. But when he did, their marriage became stronger, according to Fox News.
“I think for a while I just tried to bury it so deep that I kind of forgot about it for a while,” he said. “I think God put that on me for meeting someone like Jessica who went through some hard times herself and I think it made our relationship stronger once we talked about it."
The reality star said he can relate to the struggles that the Duggar family is now facing, as the Robertsons have dealt with unwanted media in the attention in the past. Though he does not know the family personally, Robertson said he would advise the family to pray.
"I think we as a family just stuck together and prayed a lot,” he said.
"At some point I think you got to get a tough skin and no matter what anybody says about you, you just got to be like, 'We're just going to keep doing what we do.’”
Publication date: June 11, 2015