Jep Robertson, a member of the Robertson family that is featured on A&E’s Duck Dynasty, revealed in his new book that he was sexually abused when he was a child. He wrote that his abuser was a high school student who sat next to him on the school bus.
Robertson, 37, wrote in The Good, the Bad, and the Grace of God: What Honesty and Pain Taught Us About Faith, Family, and Forgiveness, which he co-wrote with his wife Jessica, that the abuse happened when he was 6 and in grade school. He also sat down for an interview with Entertainment Tonight to talk about it.
“I was 6 and it was on a school bus and it was an older girl,” Jep told ET. “Back then the high school students would ride on the same bus as the grade school. There was this girl there that was just real mean...I don't know, but it was a lot of things took place -- scary stuff. It was tough.”
In the book, Jep wrote that the older girl sat next to him, “like a motherly figure almost.” At first, she was “sweet,” but then she had him put her hands under her shirt. “Then she started making me pull down my pants. It was awkward. I didn't know what was going on, but I knew something wasn't right,” he wrote.
Jep said that he kept the incidents a secret, but it was why he would often refuse to go to school. He did eventually tell his wife, but he never openly discussed it with his parents.
Jep and Jessica said that they could also relate to the situation that the Duggar family is dealing with, although they do not know them personally.
“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,'” Jep told ET.
“And I think that's what they're doing. I think they're staying close-knit and I think they'll be fine, but it'll be a long road,” Jessica added.
Jep’s book will be out on June 23 and Duck Dynasty returns on June 24.