Sadie Robertson Huff and her husband, Christian Huff, waited until their three daughters were asleep before opening a handwritten letter from her mother, Korie Robertson. Then they prayed together, asking God to help them hear what Korie had to say. In her new book, It's Not Personal, the Duck Dynasty star recalls how that evening helped the couple face problems they had been reluctant to talk about.
The letter followed a family press trip to New York for Duck Dynasty: The Revival. Sadie and Christian had been married for six years, and their youngest daughter, Kit, was nearly three months old. Sadie was recovering from her second C-section, breastfeeding and keeping up with a demanding press schedule. Both were exhausted and had grown short with each other. At a family dinner, they exchanged hurtful remarks and left early after Sadie began to cry.
When Korie told Sadie she had written to both of them about what she had seen, Sadie's first reaction was embarrassment. She wanted to explain how depleted she had felt on the trip, but she knew the tension between her and Christian had been building before they went to New York. She also trusted that her mother wanted to help them.
Korie drew on her own experience raising young children with Willie Robertson. She acknowledged how demanding those years could be and pointed out where Sadie and Christian could work together more closely. "Every word was covered in grace, empathy, and love," Sadie writes. In an interview with Us Weekly, she said her mother's willingness to remember how hard that stage had been in her own marriage made it easier to hear her advice.
Sadie says she and Christian now speak more openly when one of them has been impatient or unkind. They are quicker to own what they said, apologize and change how they respond. She also looks back on the letter as a moment when she could finally admit she needed help. Sadie dedicated It's Not Personal to Christian, saying that he had helped teach her much of what she wanted to share in the book.
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