Duck Dynasty's Jep Robertson Says He Was Sexually Molested as a Child

The latest Duck Dynasty project is The Good, the Bad, and the Grace of God, a husband-and-wife collaboration between youngest brother Jep Roberston and his wife Jessica. (Obviously, it’s pretty religious in tone.) And in the book, Jep says he was sexually molested as a child, by an older student, while riding the school bus.

That’s according to Entertainment Tonight. In the book he writes:

“An older girl started sitting next to me. She seemed sweet at first. She’d come sit beside me, like a motherly figure almost. I remember her being sweet and taking care of me. I liked to sit in the back so she’d come sit with me.”

“After a while the girl started doing strange things.” the story in the book continues. “She’d take my hands and push them up under her shirt and tell me I was tickling her. 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 also talked to Entertainment Tonight about the revelations, explaining that he was six but a broad range of ages would ride this particular bus. “It was an older girl that was just real mean. And I think, in the end, I think she was probably just terribly abused herself. But yeah, a lot of things took place, and scary stuff, and it was tough. I didn’t want to go to school, I had a lot of absences.” He didn’t tell anybody for years, until he met his wife. “I was more embarrassed. I think in the end I didn’t want my mom and dad to think they did anything wrong, and they didn’t.”

“I was really scared of girls and just women in general, but I think God had a plan for that. I know it sounds weird but it’s helped me now that I have a bunch of girls,” he added. “I think it helps us really communicate with them on what’s right and what’s wrong — where you should be touched or not be touched. It’s a tough thing to go through, but you just kind of live and go though it and make the most of it.”

Of course (of course) ET also asked the pair about the Duggars. The pair stumbled around for a moment, with Jep saying “I don’t know really know them so I don’t really know in [Josh’s] heart,” but “they seem like a sweet family,” while Jessica said “they seem like a great family,” before finally settling on a firm, “I sympathize with going through hard times in the media.”