Breaking news! It will shock you! The disturbing secrets of the Duggar family are revealed – worse than we thought.
Last week, another Duggar brother was charged with alleged child sexual abuse.
It’s a far cry from the pretty picture the family so fastidiously scrubbed clean after the first ‘mishap’.
Their message? The ‘black sheep’ of the family — convicted paedophile Josh Duggar — is in jail. There’s nothing more to see here.
The wholesome family, who were the main characters of reality TV program 19 Kids and Counting were once more shrouded in their perfect bubble of faith and purity.
But now — to some extent — that bubble has burst.
On Thursday, March 19, Joseph Duggar — the seventh child and third son born to religious fundamentalist parents Jim Bob and Michelle Duggar — was arrested in Tontitown, Arkansas, where he lives with his family.
According to People, Joseph Duggar was charged with lewd and lascivious behaviour on a child under 12 years old.
He remains in jail ahead of being extradited to Bay County, Florida, where the alleged offence took place six years ago. These allegations have not yet been tested in court.
Following his arrest, his wife, Kendra Duggar, was also arrested, facing four unrelated counts of endangering the welfare of a minor and false imprisonment.
Regardless of the outcome of Joseph Duggar’s case, the familiarity of this situation leads us to a more important discussion: the way sexual abuse allegations are handled inside religious families and organisations, and the culture of silence that allows such acts to go unseen and unheard.
The first hammer falls: The eldest son becomes the ‘black sheep’.
In December 2021, Josh Duggar — the eldest son of Jim Bob and Michelle Duggar — was found guilty on child pornography charges and sentenced to 12 years in prison.
He was also ordered to pay a fine of around $50,000.
But it wasn’t the first time he’d been in trouble.
Josh was investigated as a teenager in 2006 for molesting five underage girls, two of which were his own sisters.
His parents gave interviews saying their son fondled his sisters over their clothes while they were asleep.
No charges were filed regarding the abuse, which allegedly occurred in 2002 and 2003. Police began investigating in 2006 after a tip off, but the statute of limitations had been lifted.
Jim Bob confirmed that he’d taken Josh to Christian counselling and also to speak with police.
The family prayed together and ultimately decided to forgive him.
“We had all resolved it, we had forgiven, we had moved on in life,” Michelle Duggar said.
When it came to light in 2015, Josh, then 27, apologised and resigned as a lobbyist for the Family Research Council.
“I would do anything to go back to those teen years and take different actions,” Duggar wrote online. “In my life today, I am so very thankful for God’s grace, mercy and redemption.”
His sisters, Jill and Jessa told The Kelly File at the time, “We had dealt with that when the investigation with our family was closed. After all those months, they said, your parents have done an amazing job — they were praising our parents — and found [our] home was a safe place for children.”
That was it. Prayer and absolution.
Then new reports hit the newswire. Josh Duggar was outed as a paying member of Ashley Madison, a social-networking website for extramarital affairs. He’d spent over a thousand dollars on the platform between 2013 and 2015, including an ‘affair guarantee’, reports The New Yorker.
He issued a statement, calling himself a hypocrite (the Duggars espoused family values and the sanctity of marriage), saying he regretted viewing pornography (he later removed this part) and being unfaithful to his wife Anna.
Despite saying she was ‘heartbroken’, Anna stood by her husband, and so did the family.
“I think it is such a betrayal for a spouse to go through what we’re walking through,” she said on Jill & Jessa: Counting On.
“Not only was it a betrayal against me, but it was also a betrayal against those that call themselves Christian because here we were as a Christian couple.”
She turned to God for support.
“I was just praying, ‘God, help me to respond to all of this.’ I didn’t know what to do. I knew we needed help, and I was just praying God would give the wisdom and the help that we needed to take the next step.”
But six years later, she would finally give up that faith in her husband.
On April 29, 2021, Josh was arrested and charged with receiving and possessing child pornography, including that of children under 12.
At the time, Anna was expecting the couple’s seventh child.
He got just 12 years in jail and a fine, followed by 20 years of supervision. His mother wrote to the court, “Joshua has a tender heart, and he is compassionate toward others.”
Anna called him a “loving, supportive and caring father”.
Josh will be released in 2032.
A new allegation.
Public sentiment returned to equilibrium on the Duggar family. So, they had a ‘black sheep’. Don’t we all?
But then, in March 2026, another serious allegation emerged.
Police allege Joseph Duggar, Josh’s younger brother, molested a nine-year-old girl in 2020, while on holiday in Florida.
According to an arrest affidavit obtained by People, investigators from the Bay County Sheriff’s Office allege that Joseph Duggar made statements during a recorded phone call with the child’s father on March 17. The affidavit claims that, during this conversation, Duggar reportedly made a verbal admission regarding the alleged incident.
He is currently awaiting extradition to Florida.
A family in crisis.
The news of Joseph’s arrest was quickly followed by an announcement that his wife, Kendra Duggar, was arrested on unrelated charges. The charges are related to a home inspection of a physical property, according to People.
Kendra Duggar is not suspected or accused of participating in the alleged Florida incident.
Both Kendra and Joseph face four counts each of endangering the welfare of a minor and second-degree false imprisonment.
The separate investigation was “launched on the heels of the alleged incident in Florida,” according to Tontitown Police.
People report it was the result of a home inspection, and the door locks being on the exterior of the doors. She’s since been released on bail.
Brothers in arms.
On Friday, Josh Duggar’s attorney Beau Brindley told People that his “familial bond remains strong” with Joseph.
Brindley said, “Josh sympathises with the suffering that the public spectacle of criminal accusations creates.”
“He has felt the pain of false public accusation himself. And he has seen how the media sensationalizes his family’s private struggles,” Brindley added.
Counselling culture.
Putting aside the recent allegations against Joseph, the Duggar family’s approach to Josh’s initial alleged offending offers a view into some religions’ internal counselling culture.
By not involving the law, Josh didn’t have to face his actions until it had once again gone too far.
This is something that, unfortunately, is not isolated to Josh’s history alone.
According to Bravehearts, a study found one in 250 children experienced sex abuse by a leader or another adult in a religious organisation in Australia.
This abuse was overwhelmingly perpetrated by male religious leaders.
A Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse found that no cases were reported within the Jehovah’s Witnesses (out of 1006 cases since 1950).
The Bravehearts report also refers to the unique characteristics of religious settings, such as the “establishment of friendships with families, inducements and coercion.”
It also reflects on the “obedience, patriarchy, claims of divine justification, appeals to God and salvational outcomes, the use of familial language, and closed communities” in these settings.
The 2017 Royal Commission found that survivors took, on average, 23.9 years to tell someone they’d been sexually abused. It also found that the attitudes towards sex and sexuality within the religious community contributed to the feelings of shame associated with abuse, acting as a barrier to reporting.
And few environments are as ‘buttoned up’ as the Institute in Basic Life Principles, the specific branch of Christian fundamentalism the Duggars are part of.
Where side-hugs are the only form of contact allowed until you’re married. Where dates are chaperoned and holding hands with your husband-to-be is a special privilege.
Where sex, and everything about our natural urges as humans, are repressed and taboo.
The Bravehearts report highlights how certain characteristics of closed religious communities can create conditions that may enable abuse to go unreported.
And unfortunately, it’s happened time and time again.
