Duggar Interview: Josh Duggar ‘Just Curious About Girls’ When He Molested Them, Patriarch Says
In a much-anticipated interview that aired on Fox News Wednesday, the parents of accused child molester Josh Duggar, of the popular TLC reality show 19 Kids And Counting, said that their then-teenage son was “just curious about girls” when he molested four of his own sisters as well as a family babysitter.
The remarks came in the first interview given by members of the Duggar family since police records were made public containing the sexual assault allegations against Josh Duggar. In the interview, family patriarch Jim-Bob Duggar and his wife Michelle — mother of the “19 kids” referenced in their show’s title — attempted to explain why they kept quiet about the incidents of child abuse, even after Josh Duggar made several tearful confessions to them.
“As parents, we’re not mandatory reporters,” Jim-Bob Duggar told Fox News interviewer Megyn Kelly.
Earlier on Wednesday, a newly released police report obtained under the Freedom of Information Act by In Touch Weekly Magazine revealed that Josh Duggar serially molested his younger sisters, touching their breast and genital areas as they slept.
However, he also molested his youngest sister who was only 5-years-old as he was reading a book to her.
“As she was sitting on his lap, he had touched her breasts and vaginal area,” the newly released police report said.
“He said he was just curious about girls and he had gone in and just basically touched them over their clothes while they were sleeping. They didn’t even know he had done it,” Jim-Bob Duggar told Kelly in the Wednesday Fox News interview.
Also in the Fox News report, two of the Duggar sisters, Jill and Jessa who are now 24- and 22-years-old respectively, confirmed that they were among the victims of their older brother’s sexual assaults.
While they called Josh Duggar’s actions “very wrong,” they defended their brother of accusations of pedophilia.
“I’m like, that is so overboard and a lie really,” said Jessa Duggar. “I mean people get mad at me for saying that but I can say this because I was one of the victims.”
The Duggar parents said that they were traumatized when Josh confessed to them that he had touched his sisters and the babysitter “improperly.”
“One of our children made really bad choices and I think as a parent we were just — we were devastated,” Michelle Duggar said.
But in the interview, the Duggars also lashed out at media coverage of the child molesting incidents involving their son Josh Duggar, calling the scandal, “An unprecedented attack on our family.”
[Image: Fox News Screen Grab]
