The "Duck Dynasty" has added an unexpected new member.
Phil Robertson, 74, the patriarch of the Louisiana family from the hit reality series, revealed on his "Unashamed" podcast with his four sons on Thursday that he recently determined he has a 45-year-old daughter from a decades-old affair.
"It's a pretty cool explanation of redemption, reconciliation, love," Robertson said. "As it turns out, 45 years, you have a daughter that you don't know about, and she has a father she doesn't know about. Forty-five years, that doesn't sound like very long but you say, that's a while. So finally, after all those years, we come together."
The family found out when a woman named Phyliss sent a letter to Robertson's son, Al, that said a DNA test indicated that Phil Robertson may be her father.
Robertson, who has been married to his wife Kay since 1966, has previously admitted to having affairs before he converted to Christianity in the 1970s.
"Well once we get into that and start looking at it a little more deeply, I'm like, 'Oh whoa, whoa, there might be something to this,'" Al said on the podcast.
Al and Phil's other sons, Willie, Jase, and Jep, decided to approach Phil about looking into her claim.
"I started thinking, there's a 45-year-old woman out there who doesn't know who her dad is, and she's looking," Al said. "And I thought, even if it's not dad, she needs to know it's not dad."
Phil decided to take a DNA test, which came back as a 99.9% match with Phyliss. He said he didn't hesitate to want to contact her.
The family has quickly embraced the daughter and sister they didn't know they had.
"I was so excited," Jep Robertson said. "It was to me like a dream come true."
Phil Robertson's wife, who is known as Miss Kay, also graciously accepted Phyliss despite learning she was the product of an affair. Phyliss is expected to appear on an upcoming episode of the podcast alongside Kay.
"I got to hear that first conversation with mom and it was so neat because mom always has wanted a daughter," Al said. "Let's be honest, if a lot of women get news 45 years later there's a child they didn't know (their husband) had, it could not go well."
"Miss Kay over the entire 45 years warned me, or at least alerted me, she said someone will come out of your past, that wild ride of living,'' Phil said. "I said, 'You think?' She said, 'I think it would probably be a son, but in this case she said, 'I'm so glad it's a girl.'"