In a preview for the upcoming three-part TLC special Jill and Jessa: Counting On, Anna Duggar speaks out for the first time since news broke of her husband’s scandal.
“It was heartbreaking to hear what had happened,” she says tearfully of learning of Josh’s infidelities, before staring dejectedly off-camera. “Yeah.”
null
Jill Duggar also reveals that Anna was the person she was most concerned for when her brother’s Ashley Madison cheating scandal broke earlier this year. (Prior to Josh’s cheating scandal, she and younger sister Jessa were named as two of five girls that Josh confessed to molesting back in 2002.)
“My first thoughts were for Anna,” the 19 Kids and Counting star says in the clip, referring to Josh’s wife of seven years. She later adds, “We will come out of this fire.”
Jill, 24, is currently in South America with her husband, Derick Dillard, where they are serving on a long-term missionary trip with their son Israel, 7 months. The reality star has hinted at the family’s struggles to come to terms with Josh’s scandal in recent months via her blog.
In early September, she wrote about the “difficult days” that she and her family had been experiencing.
“Hey everyone! August has been a busy month for us,” she wrote. “And as so many of you know, it has ended on a sad note for my extended family. Please do pray for our family. We are so thankful for God’s grace during difficult days.”
Earlier in the year, news broke that Josh, 27, had molested five girls back in 2002, when he was just 14 years old — including his sisters Jill and Jessa.
In an earlier released clip from their TLC special, the sisters confessed that it was a huge shock for them to later discover that in addition to the molestation charges, Josh had also cheated multiple times on his wife, Anna. The pair have four children together.
“Here I am, most joyful time in my life — newlywed, baby on the way, and then…” Jessa, 23, recalls. “We were devastated. Like, we couldn’t believe it. You have to wonder, like, ‘How did this happen?’”
Jessa and Jill will reveal more of their experience in the middle of the media firestorm in their special set to premiere on Sunday, Dec. 13 at 8 p.m. ET on TLC.
