Josh Duggar
Joshua James Duggar is an American convicted sex offender and former reality television personality. The eldest of Michelle and Jim Bob Duggar's nineteen children, Duggar and his family gained fame as the focus of the TLC series 19 Kids and Counting, which spun off from a series of television specials. His 2008 wedding was aired on the show. He served as the executive director of FRC Action, a lobbying political action committee sponsored by the Family Research Council, from June 2013 to May 2015. He resigned from the position after it was reported that he had molested multiple underage girls from 2000 to 2004, when he was between the ages of 12 and 16. This included four of his sisters.
These revelations led to the cancellation of 19 Kids and Counting on July 16, 2015. One month after the show's cancellation, the Ashley Madison data breach revealed that he had paid for sexual services while married. The fallout was named one of the "10 Big Scandals of 2015" by USA Today, and The Washington Post listed Duggar as one of the fifteen most hated people on the Internet for that year. While the family returned in the Counting On spin-off with episodes released 2015–2020, Duggar did not take part in its production.
On April 29, 2021, Duggar was arrested by U.S. Marshals on charges of receiving and possessing child sexual abuse material. Soon after his arrest, the family's Counting On series was cancelled. Duggar was found guilty on all charges on December 9, 2021 and sentenced to more than 12 years in prison on May 25, 2022.
Early life
Josh Duggar was born on March 3, 1988, in the city of Tontitown in Washington County, Arkansas, to James Robert and Michelle Annette Ruark Duggar. For most of his youth, Duggar was homeschooled and passed Arkansas's state test for a general equivalency diploma at the age of 16. Although he expressed interest in law school, Duggar ultimately did not attend college.Career
Reality television personality
Starting in 2005, Duggar appeared on a number of reality television shows about his family, beginning with a program on Discovery Health when he was aged 17. The most prominent of these programs was the TLC series 19 Kids and Counting, which debuted in September 2008. Duggar's wedding was featured in an episode broadcast on January 25, 2009, which included the planning, preparation, rehearsal, ceremony and reception. Duggar and his wife have stated they saved their first kiss for their wedding day.Multiple episodes document Duggar's children, including: "GrandDuggar's First Birthday", airing December 7, 2010, where Duggar celebrates his daughter Mackynzie's first birthday and announces the expected birth of their second child; "First Grandson", airing June 19, 2011, which featured Duggar and his wife introducing their second child, Michael James; and "GrandDuggar Makes 3!", airing June 16, 2013, a Father's Day special introducing the Duggars' third baby, Marcus Anthony. A special titled "Josh & Anna: Our Story" aired on October 22, 2013, reviewed the couple's first five years of marriage. Duggar and his wife announced the expected birth of their fourth child on an episode titled "Anna's Having A...", which aired May 12, 2015. The episode included the Duggars announcing the ultrasound showed they were having another girl.
Political activity
When Duggar was a teenager, his father, Jim Bob Duggar, was a two-term Republican member of the Arkansas House of Representatives. Duggar has also been active in conservative politics; while running a car dealership he worked as a part-time political consultant in 2007 under the business name Strategic Political Services. In 2008, he worked on the Republican presidential primary campaign of former Arkansas Governor Mike Huckabee. In 2012, Duggar addressed rallies for the Republican presidential candidate Rick Santorum of Pennsylvania.From June 2013 to May 2015, he was executive director of FRC Action, a political action and lobbying organization sponsored by the Family Research Council. When describing his position with the organization, he stated that he would be focused on "engaging the grassroots and taking the message of faith, family and freedom all across America". FRC president Tony Perkins said that by hiring Duggar they hoped to appeal to more young people by tapping into the popularity of 19 Kids and Counting. He further stated, "The big part of Josh's focus is going to be building our grass-roots across the country". While working at FRC Action, conservative Republican candidates valued Duggar as a way to advance their messages to his constituents. He campaigned for Senate candidates in Kansas, Mississippi, and Virginia before the 2014 midterm elections.
Duggar described his family as the "epitome of conservative values" and advocated for what he termed "family-centered" and conservative Christian viewpoints, including opposition to abortion, divorce, and gay marriage. He has been referred to as an "anti-gay activist" by GLAAD, a pro-LGBT rights organization.
Molestation scandal
2002–2003
As a young teen, Josh touched the breasts and genital region of his sisters on multiple occasions while they were sleeping, and sometimes when they were awake. Four of the molestation victims were Duggar's siblings: he had reached under the dress of a younger sister who was in his lap, cornered a sister in the laundry room to reach under her clothing, and touched a much younger sister, who, according to the Duggars, "didn't understand she had been improperly touched". The fifth victim was a babysitter.His parents said they learned of Josh's sexually abusive behavior in March 2002. The following July, Josh admitted to molesting one of his sisters, and his parents disciplined him at home. His confession was not reported to police. In March 2003, the parents learned of additional incidents and victims, and Jim Bob brought the issue to their church elders and to their closest friends, Jim and Bobye Holt. The Holts informed their daughter, Kaeleigh, whom Josh had been courting. She wrote an angry note about the matter and stored it between the pages of a book.
Josh was ultimately sent away from home for three months. Jim Bob told police that during this time Josh stayed at the Veterans' affairs Hospital in Little Rock, Arkansas, allegedly attending a counseling program run by a Christian ministry that involved physical labor. However, Michelle Duggar would later tell police that Josh was not involved in counseling, instead working under a family friend to help remodel the building. In Jill Duggar's memoir Counting the Cost, she says her parents told her that Josh had a temporary construction job with family friends.
In July 2003, after Josh returned home—and 16 months after his initial confession to his parents—Jim Bob took him to meet Joseph Truman Hutchens, an Arkansas State Trooper and family acquaintance. According to Josh and his parents, the meeting was the first time any law enforcement authority was made aware of the abuse. Under Arkansas state law, law enforcement officers, as mandated reporters, are required to alert the Arkansas Child Abuse Hotline when learning of sexual abuse. However, Hutchens did not take any official action. He reportedly gave Josh a "stern talk". Jim Bob later claimed that Hutchens was told the entire story and that Josh admitted to Hutchens that he had molested several children and apologized. Speaking via a lawyer, Hutchens disputed part of the account, saying he was only told of a single act of incestuous molestation and that he would have responded differently if he had known of additional instances and victims. Hutchens was himself convicted in 2012 of unrelated charges relating to child sexual abuse material and was sentenced to 56 years in prison.
2006–2007
In 2004 and 2006, the first four television specials featuring the Duggar family were released.In 2006, Kaeleigh Holt loaned a book to her friend, a fellow church member. The letter she had written about Josh three years earlier was still inside the book. In December 2006, Kaeleigh's friend, having discovered the evidence against Josh, called the Arkansas Child Abuse Hotline to reveal his past sexual misconduct toward minors. She also anonymously emailed Oprah Winfrey's production company, Harpo Studios, as the Duggar family was scheduled to appear on The Oprah Winfrey Show. Winfrey's producers alerted the Department of Human Services and canceled the Duggar family's appearance.
Springdale police began investigating. Jim Bob told them that Josh had molested five underage girls between 2002 and 2003, when he was 14 and 15 years old. Several family members said there had been no incidents since Duggar returned to the home in late 2003, that they felt safe in their home, and that they had forgiven Duggar for his past behavior.
Under the Arkansas statute of limitations, child sexual abuse charges must be filed within three years of being reported to a police officer. Because of the July 2003 contact with Hutchens, no charges could be filed in December 2006.
2015
Via a Freedom of Information Act request, In Touch Weekly obtained a redacted police report. On May 21, 2015, they published a story about the 2002–2003 events which had been previously unknown to the public. Duggar resigned his position at FRC Action the same day. He stated that he had "acted inexcusably" as a teen and was "deeply sorry" for what he called his wrongdoings. FRC president Tony Perkins said: "Josh believes that the situation will make it difficult for him to be effective in his current work. We believe this is the best decision for Josh and his family at this time. We will be praying for everyone involved."Duggar's cousin, Amy Duggar, who is a year older than him, learned about the abuse from the In Touch story. "A couple of weeks" later, as she wrote in her memoir, she went to the Duggar family home to confront Josh. She found him and his wife in an RV parked next to the house, separate from his weeping sisters. Amy yelled at Josh that if he had ever tried to hurt her, "I would have kicked your ass! I would have called the police." Josh responded: "I knew better."