Josh Duggar expressed his frustration over being excluded from his family’s reality show and lamented the lack of support he received after it came to light in 2015 that he had molested four of his sisters.
The former star of 19 Kids and Counting, now 38, communicated his disappointment to his mother, Michelle Duggar, from prison. He stated that he and his wife, Anna, felt “devastated” by the family’s handling of the scandal, as reported by People.
Duggar expressed that “no one banded together to stand with us” and lamented being “kept at arm’s length by most of the family” and “cut off from public view on TV.”
He urged his mother to “please consider your role and change so that other children are not in the same situations later.”
While his parents, Michelle and Jim Bob Duggar, acknowledged his actions, Josh was never formally charged with the molestation allegations.
The communication with his mother occurred after Duggar was sentenced in 2022 for possessing child sexual abuse materials. He is currently serving a prison term of 12 years and seven months in federal custody.
Josh Duggar, 38, complained about being ‘cut’ from his family’s reality show and said nobody supported him after it was revealed he molested four of his sisters in 2015
While Duggar – who’s the oldest of 19 siblings – acknowledged that his mother supported him ‘privately’ following both the incidents, he said it felt as ‘if there were 18 kids and life went on.’
Notably, Duggar recently defended his younger brother Joseph, 31, following his arrest for alleged sexual abuse of nine-year-old girl.
In the message to his mother, Duggar allegedly wrote: ‘[I]ts (sic) hard to be here while everyone is out going and doing. its (sic) especially hard in light of how things have been since may 2015 when everything was devastated for Anna and I.’
Though both of the family’s shows were cancelled by TLC due to Duggar’s actions, he told his mother that ‘the public statements and pr work to save shows and public images i feel were placed above family relationships’ and added that he believes they ‘still are to this day.’
He also told his mother that she ‘worr[ied] more about pr than anything else,’ before adding, ‘I am not trying to shift blame for anything, I am saying please consider your role and change so that other children are not in the same situations later.’
Duggar molested his four sisters and a babysitter between March 2002 and March 2003, when he was a teenager, according to a federal lawsuit they filed against the city of Springdale and Washington County in 2017.
In 2022, federal judge Timothy Brooks dismissed a lawsuit from the four sisters, who accused various Arkansas officials of violating their privacy by releasing documents from the molestation investigation.
While Brooks sympathized with the sisters, he argued that they had not proven that police intentionally violated the law.
He wrote a message to his mother, Michelle Duggar, from jail stating he and his wife Anna were ‘devastated’ by how the family dealt with the scandal, according to People; Michelle seen with husband Jim Bob Duggar
Duggar said that ‘no one banded together to stand with us’ and that they were ‘kept at arm’s length by most of the family’ and ‘cut off from public view on tv’; Seen with his wife Anna
He also asked his mother to ‘please consider your role and change so that other children are not in the same situations later’; Pictured with his parents and siblings in 2014
The family reality show, 19 Kids and Counting, was abruptly canceled in 2015 when allegations emerged that Josh had molested four of his sisters as a teenager. He was never charged over these accusations
Duggar was convicted for possessing child sexual abuse materials in 2022. He is currently serving 12 years and seven months in federal prison
In his ruling, he explained that the four sisters ‘were sexually abused by their brother, Joshua’ between March 2002 and March 2003, when he was 14 and 15 years old. Brooks said the girls were between the ages of 5 and 11 during the alleged abuse.
Brooks also oversaw Duggar’s 2021 child pornography trial. Prosecutors said he downloaded 600 photographs and seven videos of violent child sexual abuse.
Duggar is scheduled to be released in October 2032, after which he’ll spend 20 years on supervised release.
The four Duggar sisters, now all adults, were among the 19 Kids and Counting on the TLC reality show that chronicled the devout Christian family’s life in Arkansas.
In 2015, the reality series, which began as 17 Kids And Counting, was cancelled by TLC after the allegations became public.
A family friend shared the tip about the molestation allegations with law enforcement, but the statute of limitations had expired by that time.
Duggar’s parents later said he had admitted to molesting his sisters and apologized privately after the allegations resurfaced.
Duggar publicly apologized months later for having cheated on his wife Anna, and he claimed he had been seeking treatment for an addiction to pornography.
He and Anna share seven children.
A few months later, TLC premiered a new reality show about the large family titled Counting On, which did not feature Duggar or his wife.
That show was cancelled in 2021 following Duggar’s arrest on a federal charge of possessing child sexual abuse materials.
Notably, Duggar recently defended his younger brother Joseph, 31, following his arrest for alleged sexual abuse of nine-year-old girl; Joseph seen in a mugshot
In March, Duggar spoke from behind bars to dismiss child molestation allegations against his brother as ‘sensationalized fiction.’
His brother Joseph was arrested in March and charged in connection with allegations he inappropriately touched a nine-year-old girl.
‘Josh understands the stigma of being accused,’ his attorney told the Daily Mail.
‘He lives with the painful reality of how false accusations can destroy a life. He understands how the targeting of a person for publicity can twist the truth into sensationalized fiction.’
The attorney added that although ‘Josh and Joe are not in frequent communication,’ the jailed brother ‘hopes and prays for his brother’s well being in this difficult time’.
Joseph, a married father of four, repeatedly engaged in ‘unlawful sexual activity’ with the underage girl during a family vacation in 2020 at Panama City Beach, the Bay County Sheriff’s Office in Florida said in a statement released after the arrest.
Joseph was released on a $600,000 bond.
