Joy-Anna Duggar is opening up about the fallout from brother Joseph Duggar’s arrest scandal.
“I am getting through all of this. I feel like every day it’s different, and I think that it’s probably been the hardest time I’ve ever gone through, honestly,” Joy-Anna, 28, said on a recent episode of her sister Jinger Duggar’s eponymous podcast. “I think we’re all grieving in different ways, but I think it just feels so heavy.”
She continued, “I definitely think as time goes on, certain things have gotten lighter, but I’ve really been struggling, honestly. I think I’ve had to lean on the Lord more than I ever have, which is a good thing. That’s a positive thing, but … you can’t plan for something like this.”
Joseph, 31, was arrested on March 18 in Arkansas for lewd and lascivious behavior after allegedly molesting a 9-year-old child in Florida in 2020. The victim, now 14, told police that Joseph “eventually apologized for his actions” at the time before “the incidents stopped.”
Two days later, news broke that Joseph was also facing four counts of endangering the welfare of a minor, second degree, and four counts of second degree false imprisonment. Joseph’s wife, Kendra Duggar, was arrested for the same misdemeanor charges and released on bond within hours. (Joseph and Kendra, 27, have been married since 2017 and share four children.)
Joseph was extradited to Florida later that month, where he pleaded not guilty to all charges before being released on a $600,000 bond.
Many of Joseph’s 18 siblings have spoken out following his arrest.
“What has come out about my brother is heartbreaking and deeply disturbing,” Joy-Anna said in a March 28 statement shared via social media. “My heart is with the victim, and I am grieved by the pain and harm caused. I have been a wreck this week and am taking time to process.”
In the months since Joseph’s arrest, Joy-Anna acknowledged that it has still “been hard” to move forward.
“I’ve been setting up Pillars of Praise, and it was actually a song I had found a couple days after all of this blew up,” she said on Jinger’s podcast. “It was talking about, in the valley of death, making it into a valley of worship. I think it was so fitting for everything that we’ve been going because I tend to … jump into ‘Everything’s a mess and God, where are you and why is this happening?’ I go to, like, the deep, deep end. I think God was just reminding me that even in the valley, the children of Israelites, they would go through something really hard and at the end God would say, ‘Set up a pillar so you don’t forget.’ I haven’t done that in the past a lot.”
For Joy-Anna, she has tried to focus on “the pillars that God has already answered in [her] life” instead of the difficult moments.
“That’s been something positive that I have to look to, and I have to grab on to the positive things because it’s been super hard and super dark and really heavy,” Joy-Anna added. “All that to say I am holding in there. I’m doing OK. … I kind of want to just move on with life in some ways.”
If you or someone you know has been sexually assaulted, contact the National Sexual Assault Hotline at 1-800-656-HOPE (4673). If you or someone you know is experiencing child abuse, call or text Child Help Hotline at 1-800-422-4453.
