Josh And Anna Duggar Respond To Divorce Rumor Started By Duggars’ Media Nemesis
Josh and Anna Duggar recently updated fans on the status of their marriage after months of silence.
The couple has been plagued by divorce rumors ever since Josh confessed to being unfaithful to his wife. However, he and Anna Duggar did not feel compelled to respond to any tabloid reports about the status of their marriage until recently. Something that was written in an In Touch Weekly story alleging that Anna has contacted a divorce attorney clearly struck a nerve, and the couple made the decision to speak out against it.
A rep for Josh and Anna Duggar contacted Fox News on behalf of the couple and released a short statement in response to the divorce rumor.
“The report is absolutely not true,” the rep said.
The Hollywood Gossip shared a rundown of the untrue In Touch Weekly report that got under Josh and Anna’s skin. A supposed Duggar family “insider” told the tabloid that Anna Duggar is no longer having sex with her husband and is “toying with the idea” of divorcing him and “squeezing every penny out of him she can.”
“Anna and Josh share the same bed, but she never has sex with him anymore. She just does not want to,” the In Touch source said.
The report also claims that Anna is upset over the fallout from Josh Duggar’s infidelity. He was forced to confess to cheating on Anna in August 2015 after it was discovered that he had multiple accounts on the Ashley Madison website. Josh also created an OKCupid account using a photo stolen from another man, and that man has sued Josh. The In Touch report alleges that Anna is “sickened by the lawsuit.”
Josh Duggar is being sued by the face of his online dating profiles https://t.co/Rtwo5veoOy pic.twitter.com/PpbHGHnZFs
— Page Six (@PageSix) August 6, 2016
It’s possible that Josh Duggar decided to respond to the fictitious In Touch story because the tabloid played a key role in his downfall. In May 2015, In Touch reported that Josh had sexually molested five young girls as a teenager. The tabloid provided police reports to back up its story, and the documents revealed that four of Josh’s victims were his younger sisters. As the Hollywood Gossip reports, two of those victims, Jessa and Jill Duggar, appeared on The Kelly File to defend Josh. They also accused In Touch and its publisher, Bauer, of “exploiting women.”
“Bauer, they’re a major porn provider,” Jessa said. “Maybe [that’s] their mindset. They’re just used to making objects out of women. Maybe we just didn’t seem any different.”
Jessa and Jill’s defense of their brother’s behavior wasn’t enough to save his job. As People reports, Josh was forced to resign as executive director of Family Research Council Action. He and Anna Duggar then had to leave their home in Washington, D.C., and move back to Arkansas.
TLC also canceled 19 Kids and Counting in response to the sexual molestation scandal, eventually replacing it with the new Duggar family reality series, Counting On. Josh has not yet appeared on Counting On, and last month a source told Radar Online that it’s highly likely that he never will. He’s currently supporting his family of six by selling used cars and limos.
“Josh and Anna spend most of their time at home when Josh isn’t selling cars. The family has been busy filming, but Josh is not going to be featured.”
As Cosmopolitan reports, the oldest Duggar son was even creatively edited out of Jinger Duggar’s Counting On wedding special.
However, Anna Duggar has occasionally appeared on Counting On. A few months after the world found out that Josh was cheating on her, she used the show to let her fans know what she was thinking and feeling. Anna told Counting On viewers that she was not going to divorce her husband, and she revealed that Josh actually made her miss being with him by fleeing the state after his dirty laundry was aired publicly. He spent over half a year hiding away at a Christian recovery center in Illinois, but he didn’t leave his then-pregnant wife and three other children completely alone to fend for themselves; Anna and the kids moved into Jim Bob and Michelle Duggar’s house while he was gone.
“Josh was my first love,” a tearful Anna said of her husband. “He is my one and only.”
As the Inquisitr previously reported, there’s been some speculation that Anna Duggar is currently pregnant with her fifth child. Fans think they’ve spotted a baby bump in Anna’s most recent Counting On appearances, and they believe that she’s trying to hide her belly in a photo that was taken during the Duggar family’s Thanksgiving trip last November.
However, another baby might be the last thing Anna Duggar needs in her life right now. As reported by the Duggar Family Blog, she’s admitted that she’s struggling to take care of the four kids she currently has.
“Definitely having four children under the age of seven, it’s easy to feel overwhelmed,” Anna said during a recent episode of Counting On. “I feel like a good mom during naptime.”
If Anna Duggar is expecting, do you think that her pregnancy should be the focus of future Counting On episodes? And do you think she made the right decision by staying with Josh? Share your thoughts in the comments below.
[Featured Image by Josh & Anna Duggar/Facebook]
