Fox & Rob Richardson, Subjects of the Academy-Award Nominated Documentary TIME, Tells the Rest of Their Story in New Book
Twenty-one years of love and commitment is the sign of a great relationship by most standards. But twenty-one years of love and commitment, separated by America’s most violent maximum-security prison while raising six boys as a single mom and relentlessly advocating against a system designed to keep her husband in prison, can only be described as radical love.
In his early twenties, Rob Richardson was fighting to get his business off the ground to provide for his growing family, yet was turned down by every bank for a loan. So, in the heat of desperation, he attempted to rob one, and was sentenced to 61 years in prison due to an overzealous prosecution. This was his first offense. Rob ended up serving more than two decades in America’s bloodiest penitentiary, Angola, until receiving clemency in 2018. In their new book, Time: The Untold Story of the Love That Held Us Together When Incarceration Kept Us Apart (Baker Books, February 7, 2023), high school sweethearts Fox & Rob share how they defied all odds and kept their family together through years of challenges.
The 2020 Academy Award-nominated documentary Time introduced audiences to Fox and Rob, who riveted viewers with their relentless fight for love and justice, despite America’s broken prison system. Their new book tells the rest of their story. In alternating voices and never-before-shared details, Fox and Rob reveal what the film does not—how a person can hold on to their faith and cultivate the radical love needed to see them through (and the miracles that happened along the way).
According to research at Florida State University, each year of incarceration increases the odds that their marriage will end in divorce (before or after the person gets out of prison) by an average of 32 percent.
At the lowest point in their journey, Fox & Rob legally divorced. Fox continued to wear her wedding ring, and Rob took a marriage and family course in prison. They remarried while Rob was still behind bars, calling collect from Angola to renew their vows over the phone, while their sons were present to witness the event with Fox. As they peel back the layers of their unforgettable love story, you’ll discover the perseverance and the power of a resilience that is found only in faith in the God who never gives up on us.
“Our story feels more like the place where we grew up. It’s the sun on the Louisiana landscape; thick with heat and heavy with longing. It’s glorious like the cypress trees that grow out of the murky, density of the swamp. It’s the way the Spanish moss clings to those trees; holding onto its source, even as it grows. Likewise, our story is about surviving the heat by holding on to love and faith.”– Fox
“[Living in prison] was a living death. I didn’t want that for them or myself. I don’t believe that you can cage a man in the way our system has done and expect full and total recovery. Even if one rehabilitates their actions, something is lost behind those bars, in those cinder-blocked cells. Something that only God can return. Something I pray for daily.”– Rob
Fox and Rob now give of their time as advocates for incarcerated families where they have a vision to change lives and laws through love. Together they have six sons and continue their advocacy for incarcerated families through the NOLA chapter of Participatory Defense, which they founded with the vision of “changing lives and laws through love.” They also founded Rich Family Ministries, dedicated to empowering marriages to thrive.
Connect with Fox & Rob Online: Website: https://www.foxandrob.com/