Josh Duggar is getting some support from a Duck Dynasty star who recently shared his own sexual molestation story. However, Jep Robertson wasn’t in the same position as Josh — he was the young child being sexually abused, not the teen boy doing the abusing.
ET Online recently talked to the 37-year-old Duck Dynasty star about the Josh Duggar molestation scandal , and he revealed that he knows what it’s like to be in Jessa and Jill Duggar’s shoes. However, Jep was closer to the age of Josh’s 5-year-old victim when he was targeted by a teenager, and a tabloid didn’t obtain a police report documenting what happened to him. If Jep Robertson hadn’t chosen to share his story, it’s likely that the world would never have known about it.
“I was 6 and it was on a school bus and it was an older girl,” Jep told ET Online .
The Duck Dynasty star recounted his scary experience in the book that he and his wife Jessica wrote together, The Good, the Bad, and the Grace of God: What Honesty and Pain Taught Us About Faith, Family, and Forgiveness .
Josh Duggar targeted his own family members, but Jep Robertson’s abuser wasn’t a relative. However, Jep says that the high school girl who molested him acted like a “motherly figure” by “being sweet” and taking care of him. The girl’s behavior took a sinister turn when she started putting Jep’s hands up under her shirt and making him pull down his pants.
“It was awkward. I didn’t know what was going on, but I knew something wasn’t right.”
Jep tried to avoid going to school because he feared that the girl would keep on molesting him, but he never told his parents the real reason why he was racking up so many absences — his mom simply thought he was just getting sick all the time.
“I think in the end I didn’t want my mom and dad to think they did anything wrong, and they didn’t,” Jep writes. “It was just one of those things that happened, and I think it took me a long time to realize what had happened and how it affected me.”
Jep revealed that the molestation made him “really scared” of the opposite sex, and he tried to keep what happened to him a secret for a long time because he was so embarrassed about it. However, he was finally able to talk to his wife, Jessica, about his experiences, and now he’s sharing them with the rest of the world.
Because of what he’s been through, ET Online asked Jep Robertson to share a little advice for Josh Duggar and his family. According to the Duck Dynasty star, the best way they can deal with the aftermath of the molestation scandal is to simply keep on living life the same way they always have.
“At some point I think you got to get a tough skin and no matter what anybody says about you, you just got to be like, ‘We’re just going to keep doing what we do.’”
Unfortunately, the Duggars just seem to be digging themselves into an even deeper hole by sticking to their guns and defending Josh. According to the Wrap , there was a huge negative reaction to Jim Bob and Michelle Duggar’s Fox News interview. It became a trending topic on Twitter, and the parents were harshly criticized — they were accused of downplaying their son’s crimes and even acting as enablers by allowing Josh continued access to his victims. Some viewers dubbed the Duggars’ interview with Megyn Kelly “creepy,” “horrid,” and “sickening.”
The Duggars got in this mess in the first place because they refused to change the way that they live their life, so perhaps the 19 Kids and Counting stars shouldn’t heed Jep Robertson’s advice. However, they will be happy to learn that someone is on their side, and Jep is simply sharing what worked for his family — the Robertsons survived a scandal of their own without altering their behavior. It looked like Duck Dynasty was in danger of being cancelled after Phil Robertson compared gay sex to bestiality , but the show is still on the air.
This isn’t the first time a member of the Duck Dynasty clan has supported the Duggars. As the Inquisitr previously reported, Jep’s niece, Sadie Robertson, has admitted that she’s a big fan of the 19 Kids and Counting stars. She even visited the family in Arkansas a few weeks ago, and she posed for a photo with Jana Duggar, Joy Duggar, and Jinger Duggar.
What do you think of Jep Robertson’s advice for Josh Duggar and his family?
[Image credits: Josh Duggar/Instagram, Ethan Miller/Getty]