5 controversial things Pat Robertson said while hosting ‘The 700 Club’
Alzheimer’s and divorce
In an episode from September 2011, Robertson responded to a viewer who asked about a friend who was dating another woman while still married to an Alzheimer’s patient.
“I know it sounds cruel, but if he's going to do something he should divorce her and start all over again,” responded Robertson, adding that the man should also “make sure she has custodial care and somebody looking after her.”
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“I hate Alzheimer's. It is one of the most awful things because here's the loved one, this is the woman or man that you have loved for 20, 30, 40 years and suddenly that person is gone. They're gone.”
When co-host Terry Meeuwsen challenged Robertson by noting that marriages are “for better, for worse,” Robertson replied by invoking the vow “till death do us part,” stating that he believed Alzheimer’s was “a kind of death.”
"I certainly wouldn't put a guilt trip on you if you decided that you had to have companionship; you're lonely,” he added.
After media backlash, Robertson later argued that his remarks were "misinterpreted," saying that he was trying to argue that "adultery is not a good thing" and that people in such a situation should "straighten" their life out by getting their "affair with your wife in order."
