Jim Bob Duggar’s sister, Deanna Duggar, believes several family members should be put under the microscope even further amid their public scandals.
“In my opinion, I do believe that [Jim Bob and his wife Michelle] should be investigated just because of everything that has happened,” Deanna, 64, claimed on the Wednesday, July 15, episode of “The Sarah Fraser Show” podcast. “Everybody should be checked out in that family.”
One person, however, that could be exempt is Jill Duggar, who has previously spoken out about distancing herself from her extended family.
“I know Jill has done the work and the therapy,” Deanna continued, “but I think a lot of them should be.”
Jim Bob and Michelle’s parenting initially raised eyebrows with some 19 Kids and Counting fans in 2015 after their son Josh Duggar was accused of molesting several underage girls, some of whom were his own sisters. Years later, he was arrested in 2021 for receiving and possessing child pornography and ultimately found guilty by a jury. (He is currently serving a 151-month federal prison sentence.)
More recently, the pair’s son Joseph Duggar was arrested in March after being accused of molesting a 9-year-old girl during a family vacation in 2020. He was charged with lewd and lascivious molestation of a child under 12 and lewd and lascivious conduct by a person 18 or older. He has since entered a written not guilty plea. (Joseph’s wife, Kendra Duggar, was also arrested on separate charges before being released on bond.)
“It stems from somewhere,” Amy Duggar shared with podcast host Sarah Fraser when agreeing with Deanna’s calls for an investigation. “I just think that maybe they have suppressed a whole lot and they have not come to terms with the things that maybe have gone on and really how it messed with their heads with all the different IBLP principles and all the things.”
The Duggar family are high-profile followers of the Institute in Basic Life Principles (IBLP), an ultra-conservative, non-denominational Christian organization founded by Bill Gothard in 1961.
“You have to remember that they were in these, like, big large groups of people that thought the same way, right?” Amy, 39, claimed. “The men were the leaders and they could do whatever they wanted and no one could stand up or talk back to the men. … Everyone should have therapy. I do think an investigation going deeper might be good.”
In July 2015, TLC announced it would be canceling the Duggar family’s reality series, 19 Kids and Counting, two months after Josh’s molestation scandal came to light. Later that year, however, some family members returned for the spinoff Counting On, which ran until 2020. TLC officially cut ties with the Duggars after Josh’s 2021 arrest.
To this day, Amy holds no ill will toward the cable network for giving the family a platform.
“I’m glad that they exposed it. I really [am], because that’s how healing begins, is by exposing and getting help for the victims,” she claimed. “TLC honestly were great to work with. I enjoyed the whole crew, the production team. We had so many people that were a part of the show.”
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.
