The Duck Dynasty star Al Robertson has revealed that his wife Lisa cheated on him. He’s also revealing why he decided to stay with her. Indeed, Al wants the world to know that a marriage does not have to end after an affair.
‘Everything Can Be Worked Through…’
The new Lifetime original movie Faith & Forgiveness is set to premiere tonight. It tells the incredible story of Al and Lisa’s marriage. The film details how Lisa had an extramarital relationship 15 years into their union. It also chronicles how Al and Lisa’s faith helped them to overcome this and stay together.
“When unfaithfulness happens in a marriage, so many times, that’s the end of it, but it doesn’t have to be,” Al, 61, told Fox News. “Everything can be worked through.”
“I think the reason I was willing to fight for my marriage was that I had made a lot of mistakes on my own,” he continued. “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. And I just wasn’t that guy in the early years.”
Al And Lisa’s History
Al and Lisa met in high school when he was a 17 year-old senior and she was a 15 year-old sophomore. They married in 1984, and they went on to have two daughters. Al soon began working as a pastor at the church that his family had gone to for many years. It was during this time that Lisa began to feel lonely and isolated, as her husband was away from home for work quite a bit.
“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,” Al admitted. “[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 chimed in to confirm that during this period, she was struggling with traumatic memories from her childhood.
“From an early age, at age 7, I was subjected to someone molesting me,” explained Lisa, 60. “I believe that at age 7, I began to be dishonest with who I was and what I was. I think the evil one played a huge part in that because he would constantly remind me, I believe I started on that trail of dishonesty at that point, and that darkness really began there. As I grew older, it got worse and worse.”
Lisa’s Affair
Years into her marriage, Lisa was contacted by an old boyfriend, and the two soon began having an affair. In 1999, Al became suspicious that Lisa was cheating on him, but she denied being unfaithful.
“I had prayed all through this affair that God would open a door for me to walk away and that nobody would ever find out because I didn’t want to hurt Alan,” Lisa recalled. “I didn’t want to hurt our family. [But] I didn’t think [our marriage] would make it. If he ever found out, I just knew that it was over. I’m convinced that it’s going to be over, especially whenever he says, ‘I’m leaving.’ And I just knew it because he had always told me that. If I ever crossed the line, that would be the end of it.”
Al finally discovered the affair through cellphone records. They subsequently agreed on a temporary separation.
“I think for the first few weeks, I was leaning toward thinking that it was probably over,” Al remembered. “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?”
Lisa Changes Her Life
Meanwhile, Lisa felt overwhelmed and broken. Not knowing what else to do, she stepped into her backyard and cried out to God begging for forgiveness. As she prayed, Lisa was honest with God about what she had done. This moment was a huge turning point in her faith, and was the beginning of her starting a new life.
“The role of faith played a very significant part in my life,” Lisa stated. “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. 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.”
Lisa’s entire life changed after that. She was baptized, and she surrounded herself with other women who were serious about their faith. During this time, Lisa and Al also sought counseling.
“I changed the way I dressed,” Lisa recounted. “I changed the way I wore makeup,” I changed what I listened to,” I changed the way I approached men.”
Lisa went on to say that she “changed the way I talked because I had a potty mouth. I changed so many things.”
“But the first thing was that I cried out to God,” she added. “The second thing was to surround myself [with those women]. But then also the third thing was counseling — finding someone who could help me get rid of those negative things in my life and finally put those to rest.”
Al Forgives Lisa
The changes that Lisa was making were evident to Al immediately. He revealed that he had been unfaithful to Lisa in the early years of their relationship, before they were married. If she could forgive him for that, he felt like maybe he could forgive 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.”
“I think out of my own appreciation for not only what God had done for me, but also what Lisa had done for me, it gave me that capacity to forgive infidelity,” he continued. “Her growth as a person and as a Christian in those early weeks is what won me over to say, ‘If she has the capacity to change who she is, like I did many years earlier, then I have the capacity to forgive as God forgives.’ That’s when it all changed. We knew we were going to find our way back together.”
Al And Lisa Renew Vows
Al and Lisa decided to renew their vows in December of 1999. This was the beginning of a new start for them, and they have been devoted to one another ever since. These days, they are happier than ever, and they enjoy helping other couples who are experiencing marital issues.
“To have a really strong and very intimate marriage — not just sexual intimacy, I mean spiritual, physical and emotional intimacy — there has to be honesty,” Lisa concluded. “Honesty is the most important thing that you can do to have a very successful marriage. We also need to look at ourselves the way Jesus looks at us.”
Al and Lisa’s story serves as a reminder that marriage is complicated, and it’s different for everyone.
If you want to find out more about Al and Lisa’s fight to save their marriage, check out Faith & Forgiveness tonight on Lifetime at 8pm!