Jill Duggar is defending her family amid brother Josh’s molestation scandal. In a preview of Megyn Kelly’s sit-down interview with Jill and her sister Jessa, who were both “improperly touched” by their brother years ago, the 24-year-old says her family never claimed to be perfect.
“Some people, I've heard them say, you know, ‘You're hypocrites.’ Well, if you go back and look at everything people have seen in our lives…we've never claimed to be a perfect family," an emotional Jill tells Kelly in the clip. “My parents have always actually stated…we are not a perfect family. We are just a family.”
Adds Jessa: "With challenges and struggles just like anybody else."
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In another Fox clip, Jim Bob and Michelle Duggar’s daughters reveal that they made the decision on their own to sit down with Kelly and discuss what happened.
“As victims we have to come out and speak. This is something we chose,” Derick Dillard’s wife says in the Kelly File interview. “Nobody asked us to do this. Jessa and I were talking and we’re like, ‘Oh my goodness! Most of the stuff out there is lies — it’s not truth.’ So for truth’s sake, we want to come out and set the record straight.”
Jessa also weighs in on Josh, formerly a lobbyist for the Family Research Council, being labeled a hypocrite. “It’s right to say, ‘Here’s what I believe, here’s my values,’ even if you’ve made stupid mistakes or failures,” Ben Seewald’s wife, 22, tells Kelly. “If you’ve had failures in your past it doesn’t mean you can’t be changed. I think that’s where, I think the real issue is people are making this sound like it happened yesterday.”
In part one of the telling interview, which aired on Wednesday, June 3, 19 Kids and Counting parents Jim Bob and Michelle revealed that Josh inappropriately touched his sisters when he was 14 while they were sleeping, and at various other times. The parents went on to defend their son, telling Kelly that Josh sought help and now understands what he did was wrong.
Following the interview, Kelly told Extra that the two sisters have forgiven their brother.
"They also talked about the journey from the pain to the forgiveness, and it was not without some bumps in the road,” Kelly recalled. “All of the children went through counseling, all of them, not just Josh, not just the victims, all of them went through licensed therapist counseling to try to get through what happened," she added. “They never chose to have this piece of their family story put out there, and I think they are struggling with what people are assuming about their family and about what happened to them."
Part two of Kelly’s interview airs on Fox News’ The Kelly File on Friday, June 5, at 9 p.m.
