‘Duck Dynasty’ Star Reveals Private Struggle

John Luke Robertson is owning his Instagram. Robertson, of Duck Dynasty fame, recently opened up about his personal struggles amid making a return to the social media platform on his sister, Sadie Robertson Huff‘s WHOA That’s Good Podcast.

“You have been owning this like new Instagram, which is so cool because what I love about it is it’s just you, you know?” Huff said. “I don’t know why you didn’t do Instagram a lot before, but do you feel like you didn’t do it because you didn’t care about it, and now you just are passionate about things? But what, what brought you back to the gram in such a full-on way? 

Robertson answered, “Yeah, that’s kind of a complicated question. I mean, I think I just didn’t really care about it as much. There wasn’t as much in my life that I was excited to share at the time. I guess I had this like … I’ll put it this way.

“This is maybe going off-topic. What I was on Duck Dynasty at the time, so like 10 to 15 years ago, and who my family kind of was, was not exactly who I am now,” he said. “Like, I feel like I’m a totally different person. 28-year-old John Luke is totally different than 18-year-old John Luke, as I should be. I mean, if I was still 18 years old, John Luke, it would be concerning, right?”

Robertson continued, “And so, on Instagram specifically, the people following me, I had this feeling of like, ‘Well, they followed 18-year-old Jean Luc. They’re not going to care what 28-year-old Jean Luc is doing.’ And I kind of had to get over that fear of owning who I am now versus comparing myself now to who I was then. I’m a new person, I’m into new things.”

“That’s actually so good,” Huff remarked. “It is really good advice because I think that a lot of people feel that way. Like, whether they’re famous or not of just like, man, I don’t know how to fully be myself in this setting because people know me for who I was and not who I am.”

She added, “And what if they don’t like me for who I am now because they expect who I was, or what if they don’t like me for who I was, but I’m not that person anymore? And they would love who I am now. I’ve grown. I’m not the same as I used to be. I think that’s a tension that everybody walks in at some point in their life.”

Robertson later posted an Instagram photo of him with his sister and her husband, Christian Huff, from the podcast filming. He wrote another variation of his answer in the caption, explaining his reasoning for the new account.

“Shout out to @legitsadierob and her team for putting on an amazing podcast!” he wrote. “And @christian_huff for telling a story that had us laughing so hard we barely recovered.”

“I shared a bit about why I came back to Instagram. It came down to comparing my present self to my younger self. It was the same feeling I had when I moved back to my hometown. The question of ‘Will those who knew me in my growing up years like who I am now?’”

He wrote, “I struggled with it, and I went really private for a long time, because I didn’t think they would. Now I’ve realized that’s a dumb thought. I’m not going back to who I was, so why does it matter?

“I’m into making coffee, writing stories, reading fantasy books, playing board games, hanging out with family, and knowing Jesus. I’m sure I can find others who are too.”