I honestly cannot remember the first time I heard it, or who it was that said it to me first, but one saying that has stuck with me for the longest time is, “what is done in the dark always comes into the light.” If there was one saying that can perfectly describe the mess that Josh Duggar and the Duggar family are swimming through right now, that would definitely be it.
Ever since May 21, 2015, the demons have been spilling non-stop out of his closet. Touch Weekly published the police report identifying Josh as the perpetrator of five molestation cases when he was 14 years old, four of the victims his own sisters. A living Hell was created by none other than the oldest out of the 19-child family that had their own reality show on TLC, “19 Kids and Counting,” before the firestorm caused it to be cancelled.
Even more recently, a hack of the adultery facilitating site Ashley Madison revealed that Josh, married to Anna Duggar since September 2008 and parent to four children, spent close to $1,000 on the site in a two-year span, according to Gawker. Now the former executive director (after resigning) of the conservative lobbyist group “Family Research Council,” which claims “to champion marriage and family as the foundation of civilization,” is in a “long term” treatment center. Sounds hypocritical, right?
“I am the biggest hypocrite ever,” Josh wrote in a statement released on the family’s official site. “While espousing faith and family values, I have secretly over the last several years been viewing pornography on the internet and this became a secret addiction and I became unfaithful to my wife. I am so ashamed of the double life that I have been living and am grieved for the hurt, pain and disgrace my sin has caused my wife and family, and most of all, Jesus, and all those who profess faith in him.”
In this tight-knit, strict Christian family, most members have come out and shown support for Josh. As far as the molestation situation, two of the sisters who were victims have publicly said that they had forgiven Josh a long time ago. Jessa and Jill Duggar did an interview with Fox’s Megyn Kelly, in which Jessa said, “We’ve all forgiven, we’ve all moved on.” They said that all the media attention was actually making matters worse for them.
“I see it as re-victimization. I see it as 1,000 times worse. Because this is something that was already dealt with,” said Jill. “I can say that what was done was very wrong. The terrible thing about being a victim is that you’re helpless in the moment over the actions of others. And I feel like, in this situation, we’re again helpless,” said Jessa. Both sisters say they do not remember the molestation taking place because they were asleep when it happened and learned that it took place when Josh admitted it.
In a Facebook post, his wife claimed that Josh told her and her parents about the the incident when they visited the Duggar home. Both she and his parents, Jim Bob and Michelle, said that Josh went on to dedicate his life to God after the incident. After the Ashley Madison incident, his parents issued a statement saying that “as parents we are so deeply grieved by our son’s decisions and actions. His wrong choices have deeply hurt his precious wife and children and have negatively affected so many others. He has also brought great insult to the values and faith we hold dear.”
Anna has been mum through the second incident and is said to be hiding out in Arkansas. There has been no word on whether she plans to leave Josh or not. Her brother Daniel Keller has publicly bashed him on Facebook, stating “I won’t stop trying to get that pig out of our family…I have been thinking of her and sick to my stomach for her for last few days.”
To be honest, I feel like Josh is an extremely conflicted man and needs to regain control over his life. Where does that conflict come from? Most likely his upbringing. Growing up in such a strict Christian family that did not allow him to identify with his gender or explore his sexuality (the Duggar family is not allowed to even kiss until marriage) had a strong effect on him. By suppressing his natural male thoughts and instincts due to religion, I think Josh was trying to make up for it, or finally trying to live out his fantasies. Bottom line, molestation and infidelity are never justifiable and the criticism of his character is warranted. Only he should be held accountable for his hypocritical, heinous actions. That said, hopefully treatment can really help him become a better husband and man in general because so far he has only brought a black cloud over the ones he loves.
