45-Year-Old Woman’s DNA Test Reveals She’s the Long-Lost Daughter of a TV Celebrity

Ever wondered about your family history? Imagine the shock of finding out that you do not share the same DNA with your family or are related to someone famous—a celebrity, perhaps. All of this figured out—after taking a simple DNA test.

While it was once a lengthy, expensive procedure, DNA testing is now a trivial affair. Kits arrive by mail. The instructions are easy to follow, and all it takes is a swab of saliva and a postage stamp to begin the process. The results come by email.

Phyllis herself had never thought to take a DNA test—it was her son who pulled the first thread. The young man had recently become engaged. After a kit arrived in the mail one day as a little surprise, his fiancée convinced him to take the test to learn more about her fiancé’s family tree.

Amused, Phyllis’ son humored his soon-to-be wife and took the test. All it took was a little swab from his mouth, and before long, the results were on their way to the lab. Neither of them could have guessed how much they would be shaking the branches of their family tree.

There had never been any mystery in the Thompson family. Phyllis’ son had expected a few surprises after going back a couple of generations, but nothing major. So when the results came back, he and his fiancée were quite shocked.

Not only were the results incomplete, but they had seemed all wrong. It was as though the lab had sent somebody else’s family history, albeit with his and his mom’s name on one of the branches. He picked up the phone and called his mom before calling the lab, just to be sure.

Phyllis’ son knew that the results should have been off because he had heard from his relatives that his family line included certain ethnicities. These ethnicities were entirely absent from his DNA, according to the results. His mom had been one of the people to tell him these stories. 

But Phyllis had no idea. In fact, she headed on over to her son’s place to check out the results for herself. It was just as her son had said—whole ethnicities were missing from the charts. None of it matched up with what she had been told by her parents or relatives.

So what was matching up? Everything she knew about her maternal side was accurately depicted on the little pie chart. But there was a big question mark over her father’s side. But as Phyllis’ daughter-in-law pointed out, the lab couldn’t get exactly half of everything wrong. 

It wasn’t uncommon for people to lie about their past or even their lineage. Sometimes they would have to do so to outrun some kind of trouble or to simply avoid discrimination. As Phyllis’ brother made his way over, she wondered if she would have to have an uncomfortable conversation about their parents.

Everything Phyllis knew had been put into question—everything except her relationship with her mother. So who was her father? And what about her siblings? Her brother could offer no more answers than she could—but he did convince her to get their sister on the line. 

What should have been a fun little test result turned into a full-scale ancestral investigation with Phyllis and her siblings at the center. They sent off for another DNA test kit. This time, Phyllis’ sister would do the swabbing. At least that way, they would know about their own relationship. 

There had been comments and jokes over the course of her life—especially when she had been a small child—hinting that she had been different from her brother and sister. Since she had been so young, she hadn’t made anything of it. 

Nothing that could come with the next results would stop Phyllis from loving her brother and sister. They were her family, and she loved them no matter what. All the same, she wanted answers to these bewildering questions about her lineage.

After reflecting on all the news, at her most honest, Phyllis wasn’t really that shocked. Even if she hadn’t understood all the off-hand comments about her as a little girl, they had sunk in somewhere. In a way, it was a relief to discover that those feelings of alienation had some merit. 

When her son had taken the test, there were no stakes involved. It had been an amusing little game. Now the family awaited Phyllis’ results, and her sister’s, with bated breath. Nobody was more anxious about the results than Phyllis herself.

Phyllis and her sister got their results at around the same time. They were conclusive. As Phyllis remarked in an interview on the Unashamed with Phil Robertson podcast, “[my sister] did a DNA test, and I finally did one. It came back that [my brother and sister] were half-siblings. “

But now, another question hung in the air. Who was her real dad? Since she had never been given more than a hint when she was much younger—and even then, she couldn’t be sure if they were memories or dreams—she had no leads from her family to follow.

It turns out that DNA testing is more sophisticated than ever. The lab doesn’t just break down your ethnicity and personality predispositions—they also allow users to track where their relatives are around the world. That goes for direct relatives, too. 

There was no way to find a direct link to a name, but Phyllis would have to whittle down a list of potential candidates. Phyllis had a mandate for her investigation—the results had dropped a big blank spot where her father was supposed to be.

Phyllis was thorough while rebuilding her family tree. She had to be considering the enormous gaps in the branches. Thankfully, she wasn’t alone. Her husband joined in on the search. Together they poured over information from the DNA testing company’s website and cross-referenced it with their own independent research. 

Tree-building had just about become a full-time job. But with each blank that Phyllis and her husband filled in, they were closer to revealing the name of her biological father. It came down to just a few blanks. That name was still on the candidate list.

She recounted on the Unashamed podcast that turned to her husband and said, “I think I know [him].” But she didn’t mean she had bumped into him in the street or at Walmart. She meant that she had seen his face on billboards, in magazines, and the television. 

Phyllis’ investigation determined that her father could be non-other than Duck Dynasty patriarch Phil Robertson. She had seen his face many times on A&E—but how could Phyllis have ever guessed he was her biological dad without the help of the DNA test?

Meeting your real dad would be hard enough for anyone, but for Phyllis to have to confront such a celebrity? How stressful! The rest question was: would he even want to meet her? Well, she had come this far. She and her husband came up with a game plan. 

According to Phyllis, this was probably the hardest step in the whole process. She didn’t want to step on anyone’s shoes—Phil had a family of his own, after all. They prayed for answers and spoke to their close friends about what they should put down in the letter.

Both Phyllis and her husband thought that a letter would be the best way to convey their thoughts to Phil, but she didn’t just want to put a stamp on an envelope and send it off. She would deliver it to him in person. She believed their mutual faith would at least be enough for him to take the letter out of her hands.

It seemed that somebody had heard their prayers—they discovered that Phil was preaching one Sunday in December—and it lined up with their travel plans perfectly. The two arrived at the church and listened to Phil deliver his words.

Phyllis’ mind was getting blown as Phil delivered the gospel to the whole church crowd. On the Unashamed podcast, Phyllis remarked, “how cool is it that the first time I see my dad [in person], he’s preaching. To me […] that’s a cool dad.”

But thankfully, someone was in her corner, squeezing her hand and giving her all the encouragement she needed to take the first step forward. From the moment they arrived in the parking lot to the moment Phil stepped away from the stand, he was there for her.

It wasn’t just Phil’s presence that was putting her off. When the two first came into the church, they watched him roll in with a team of bodyguards—or, as Phyllis described it on the same podcast, “an entourage.” That’s more than enough to scare anyone away. 

Phyllis and her husband hadn’t figured Phil’s armed security crew into their game plan when they decided to take the trip to Louisiana. There had to be something they could do! But no matter what they tried, nothing sounded viable.

Upon seeing Phyllis burst into tears, Phil got scared and made a getaway out of the church building. He assumed something weird was going on—and in a way, he wasn’t wrong. But had Phyllis missed her one chance to present the letter? Not yet.

While she was still in church after she pulled herself together, Phyllis noticed one of Phil’s sons, Jase, sitting on one of the pews. She recognized him from her research and realized he could be her half-brother. Without hesitation, she approached him and asked him to deliver a letter to his dad.

Jase was more than willing to help Phyllis. He greeted her warmly and promised to deliver the letter to his father. Phyllis didn’t expect much, as the Robertson family might have more important things to worry about than a random woman claiming to be Phil’s long-lost daughter. 

The snail mail letter reached the family, and it’s what got Phyllis’ plea the attention it deserved. It had arrived at Phil’s store, Duck Commander. After Jase saw it, he became curious about the letter he had been handed at church. It was the turning point.

Jase mentioned that he received Phil’s mail at Duck Commanders and found a letter from Phyllis, which was the same letter that he had received from her in person. She had written two letters: one to Jase and another to the Robertson family, which he only saw when he was at HQ. 

Once they had scoured the two letters, Jase and Al came together. They needed to know if their father was really her biological dad. If true, it would mean they have a half-sister. However, a question arose: how could she prove it? 

On the podcast, Al spoke about his feelings on the news that Phyllis had written in her letter. He said, “It was difficult for me to sleep. My mind was filled with possibilities. It was exciting for me. If it was true, it meant I have a sister out there.” 

The brothers were expecting immediate results from the paternity test, but it turned out to be a few days of anxious waiting. They were dying to know the test results. They had so many questions—did they have a sister? 

Phyllis’s journey of searching for her biological father had finally come to an end. She now had irrefutable proof that her father was Phil Robertson—star of the legendary Duck Dynasty TV show. After he received the results, Phil invited Phyllis to come and meet the family.