Fans have come to love the Robertson family of "Duck Dynasty" over the past four seasons, but Si Robertson is now revealing the alcoholism, mental illness and even suicide attempts that plagued his family in his new book, "Si-cology: Tales and Wisdom from Duck Dynasty’s Favorite Uncle."
RadarOnline reports that Si details in his book the hardships he and his brother Phil endured before they found fame with their hit A&E reality show, including a mother who was diagnosed as manic-depressive and "spent a lot of time in hospitals and the state mental institution."
The 65-year-old duck hunter admits his own brain is "faulty," and says he battled alcoholism as a young adult, especially while he was stationed in Vietnam. The reality star writes that his problem got so bad he got in the habit of carrying a fifth of liquor in his pocket, and even admits he came close to killing a Vietnamese boy and a Vietnamese woman on two separate occasions.
“I drank so much beer and whiskey in Vietnam that I decided I would quit drinking alcohol altogether once I returned home,” he writes in his book. “I saw what alcohol was doing to me in Vietnam and realized I needed to stop for good.”
Si also wrote of his son Scott, who was born two months premature in 1977, and "was trouble before he was even born," according to his father. Scott suffered brain damage due to a liver problem not long after he was born, and because of that, "Scott was suicidal from the time he was about five years old. His behavior was really erratic as a child. When Scott would get tired, he would throw his arms out and fall backward," Si explained.
The reality star says things came to a head when his son was 11 and his mother caught him attempting to jump out of a second-story window. After a visit to the hospital his son was later diagnosed with Asperger’s, and Si writes that he lives a full life today.
Si also writes of his wife's struggles with fertility in his book, and in a recent interview with FOX411, he explained:
"She went to all the specialists and they all said, 'You'll never have kids.' I said, “Don't worry about it.” She said, 'Yeah but I know you love 'em so I'm not going to marry you.' I said, 'Hey, don't worry about that. The doctors don't have the final word. I believe in a higher power,' and I've got what you call two miracle babies, my daughter and my son and they gave me four grandsons a piece."
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