Duck Dynasty star Phil Robertson diagnosed with Alzheimer’s

His family announced the news on a podcast.

Robertson's sons Jase and Al broke the news to fans of their father during Friday's episode of the Unashamed with the Robertson Family podcast.

During the announcement, the brothers revealed that the diagnosis comes alongside a long-standing blood disease that their father has unknowingly suffered from for years.

"I think I spoke on the 1000th podcast, we were trying to figure out the diagnosis, but according to the doctors, he has some sort of blood disease causing all kinds of problems." Jase stated.

"I’m like, ‘Well Phil, you can barely walk around without crying out in pain, and your memory is not what it once was.’ He’s like, ‘Tell me about it,’" he continued.

In the episode, titled 'Phil's Diagnosis', the 78-year-old's sons added that their father's disease is still in its early stages, but has begun to affect his daily life.

The brothers added that the family is working closely with medical professionals, adding: "We’ve got a team of doctors, and then we have another set of doctors who are looking at all the tests, and they’re all in agreement that there’s no curing what he has."

Despite the pain he is experiencing, Al revealed that his father is keen to return to the family podcast: 'He keeps saying, "I'm gonna get back to the podcast,"' his son shared. 

Robertson and his family rose to fame on the A&E series Duck Dynasty, which aired from 2012 to 2017. The popular reality show followed the lives of the Louisiana-based duck hunters.

In 2014, A&E suspended Phil Robertson for claiming homosexuality was one step away from bestiality in a GQ interview.

The Louisiana-born hunter and businessman first rose to fame as a quarterback for Louisiana Tech in the late 1960s, but instead of pursuing a pro football carer he opted to go into business.

In 1972 he founded Duck Commander, a hunting and outdoor sporting goods company named after a popular duck call product that Robertson designed.

The fame from his business led to the creation of several hunting-themed TV shows going back to the 1980s, but his family gained a new level of publicity in the States when they signed a big-money deal with A&E, a US television network, in 2012.