Sadie Robertson has been open and honest about her experience with motherhood.
The Duck Dynasty star, who shares three children with husband Christian Huff, has not shied away from discussing intimate details about her births and postpartum struggles over the years. (She welcomed daughters Honey James, Haven Belle and Kit Carroway in May 2021, May 2023 and August 2025, respectively.)
“I have struggled with anxiety for years, and even wrote a book called Live Fearless because of my journey with anxiety … I’m constantly trying to fight fear in my life, but when I had [Honey] and I was going through that postpartum, it was like so many emotions happening that I couldn’t really fight the fear like I normally do,” Robertson said on her “WHOA That’s Good” podcast in 2021.
Robertson, who was just a teen when she rose to fame on Duck Dynasty alongside her family, added that a lot of her worries revolved around her birth experience with Honey, who “got stuck” during labor and delivery.
“Because Honey and I had the labor that we experienced, my mind kept going into the, ‘What ifs?’ Like, what would have happened, what if it did last one more minute and she didn’t make it, what if she didn’t actually end up coming out … What if I lost too much blood?’” Robertson said. “It led me into, ‘Is she really OK, did she really make it through that, did I really make it through that? Is there something wrong with me (or) her? What if all the things. And you know, that is such a toxic brain spiral.”
Below, see more quotes about motherhood from Robertson:
On Her ‘Chaotic’ First Birth
When Robertson welcomed Honey in 2021, she experienced a harrowing labor and delivery.
“So I go to push and everything gets crazy,” she recalled on her podcast at the time. “All of a sudden, I was pushed down on the bed and they pushed my mom out of the way, and every nurse in the room was just over me and they’re pulling my legs and pushing my stomach as hard as they could and honestly I didn’t know what happened. I thought they … cut me open … because of how painful it was when they pressed on my stomach. I now know they were pressing my pelvic bone to get her out because what happened was Honey got stuck.”
Robertson went on to detail how Honey’s shoulder was stuck in the birth canal, which is “really, really rare” and happens in about 1 percent of births.
“Our nurse said that is the scariest thing that can happen in a vaginal delivery,” she admitted, adding, “Time just stood still. … The shoulder was clamping the umbilical cord, causing her not to get air.”
Honey was stuck for over two minutes, but doctors eventually got her out. It took them some time to get her to breathe on her own, but when she did, all was well. Surprisingly, the baby’s shoulder wasn’t injured during delivery.
“They had three doctors check her shoulder because they were in disbelief it didn’t break,” Robertson said.
How Birth Made Her Feel Confident
“I don’t know if ‘pretty’ is the word, but I’ve never felt more confident in my life with my body than the day that I had Honey,” Robertson shared via Instagram Stories in 2021.
She added, “It was a total different perspective than I have ever had of my body … that is truly powerful and more than just an image. I didn’t want to wear makeup and I wanted my grandma to braid my hair because that’s when I feel the most myself and it’s just such a raw moment.”
On Postpartum Anxiety
Robertson initially kept quiet about her postpartum anxiety for fear of being misunderstood.
“I didn’t understand how I could be so happy and so joyful [to have a baby] but also experience so much fear,” she said on her podcast in 2021, adding that she soon realized the two feelings could exist “hand in hand” together.
“The reason I was so fearful is because I loved her so much … I was so happy to get to be her mom. However, just because it makes rational sense that I had some fear doesn’t mean that that’s something I needed to live with,” Robertson added.
She began to “override that fear with gratitude,” and bonded with Huff, who was also facing challenges as a first-time father.
“We both needed to open up about it,” Robertson, who eventually sought help with a specialist, said.
Having a C-Section With Her 2nd Daughter
“We knew we’d have a C-section which was great, up until right before I had the C-section, and I got really really nervous,” Robertson said on her “Whoa That’s Good” podcast in 2023. “Leading up to having her I was so excited to have her, to like welcome that change into life, but a little bit nervous.”
“I was more nervous about having two kids,” Huff added.
The two also shared that they had some comedic relief their second go-around after a skunk sprayed their house ahead of delivery and their anesthesiologist “had a booger. A big one. On his face. For a solid 30 minutes,” Huff chuckled.
How Motherhood Has Changed Her
In a post via Instagram in May 2024, Robertson shared that she feels more content than ever since becoming a mom.
“I met someone today who has seen my messages and she said ever since you became a mom you just seem ‘settled.’ She would be correct,” Robertson wrote. “Since becoming a mom I don’t feel that I need to prove anything to the world … or maybe just my idea of ‘the world’ changed. the world used to be everyone outside of my home … now it’s the ones in it.”
On Thinking She Had a Bathroom Accident During Delivery
During a July 2024 episode of her podcast, Robertson admitted she thought she “pooped her pants” during delivery.
“Legitimately, I was laying in bed and I started laughing, and I said, ‘Oh my gosh, I’m so sorry.’ I could not stop laughing. Fanning myself,” she explained.
Robertson said her doctor assured her that her water just broke, but she was convinced otherwise.
“I tried to stop him [from looking] but I had my epidural so I couldn’t really move,” she told her friends, laughing and miming her arm movements. “Then he was like, ‘Your water broke!’ When he told me he was going to break my water, my water broke, like, on cue, which was actually really cool.”
On ‘Bounce-Back Culture’
In the same episode, Robertson said the pressure to bounce back after having a baby is tough, especially with social media.
“When you think about bounce-back culture, like, how people post on Instagram and look at me now or whatever, I know that’s hard because you don’t see a full picture,” she said. “And even for me, I posted and I wasn’t posting it to say like, ‘Oh, look at me bounce back,’ or anything like that. But I can tell, ‘Oh, I look smaller.’ But that wasn’t the purpose of the picture. But I can see now, from my perspective, like someone might have looked at that and thought, ‘Oh, look at how good [she looks].’ And that’s fine.”
Robertson added that she remembered thinking four months postpartum would be the time when she’d feel back to normal, but that wasn’t the case at all.
“But then I remember a doctor telling me, like, hey, it took you nine months to grow a baby and then you birthed the baby, and you need time and space to, like, actually just nurture the baby, feed the baby, nurse the baby, other things. And then it’s gonna take, like, a solid nine months for even your hormones to regulate again. And it’s just like two years to actually, like, fully be back to not even what you were, but a new normal,” Robertson explained.
“It’s so amazing how, like, man, I truly mean this and everything, like, I would not trade where I was at before for where I’m at now, from, like, a body perspective, because I feel so much stronger and healthier, and, like, mentally, physically in every single way. And part of that is like just being a mom,” she stated.
On Mom Guilt
Robertson said that she feels guilt being a working mom sometimes but tries to remember she is the best mom for her kids.
“God called me to do what I’m doing and God also called me to be their mom,” she said on her podcast in 2024. “And both can be something he’s equipped me for. And I know I’m the best person for the job to be their mom and I’m the best mom to them because I’m their mom. I do the best that I can.”
The Peace She Felt While Welcoming Her 3rd Baby
In a lengthy Instagram post following Kit’s birth in August 2025, Robertson said she felt peace while listening to worship music during her C-section.
“I always tell people, although labor is so hard, I would never want anyone to feel afraid or for my experiences to scare them, because although there is pain and anxiety, you also experience the presence of God in a way that is so extraordinary. You’re literally in the moment of a miracle. A new life born. The start of a legacy being carried on. It’s incredible,” she shared. “As I watched back the birth video, when Christian showed her to me for the very first time this song was on — worthy is your name. And those are the words my soul felt as I looked at her. Pure worship. Pure joy. Pure delight in God’s gift, and in His design He knit together to be our Kit.”
