Josh Duggar Admits He Cheated On Wife Anna: Are Jim Bob And Michelle Distancing Themselves From Josh?

Once again, scandal is rocking the Duggars’ world. Josh has admitted that he cheated on his wife, Anna, the mother of his four children. The accounts of millions of users were hacked and exposed on the infidelity website Ashley Madison. As the hackers promised if the site remained active, personal data was revealed, including the names and information, including sexual preferences, of users seeking relationships outside their marriage. Josh Duggar appears to have had two separate accounts on the site, one of which was traced to his grandmother’s address. The person with the account in his name issued sexual proclivities and interests such as “one-night stands [and] experimenting with sex toys,” according to Us Weekly.

Josh who, prior to the scandals, some say had held himself out as the height of morality, now states that he has been a hypocrite who lived a “double life.” He admits being addicted to pornography and cheating on his wife, and he apologized to family and friends. He stated the following, according to Us Weekly.

“I have been the biggest hypocrite ever. 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….I brought hurt and a reproach to my family, close friends and the fans of our show with my actions that happened when I was 14-15 years old, and now I have re-broken their trust. The last few years, while publicly stating I was fighting against immorality in our country, I was hiding my own personal failings. As I am learning the hard way, we have the freedom to choose to our actions, but we do not get to choose our consequences. I deeply regret all hurt I have caused so many by being such a bad example….I humbly ask for your forgiveness. Please pray for my precious wife Anna and our family during this time.”

The Duggar family was already reeling from the child molestation scandal and its fallout in which Josh Duggar came clean only after the media discovered the information that he had, while as a teen, molested five underage girls, including four of his sisters. Two of them were Jill and Jessa, who are now married, and they had indicated that they forgave their brother. In Mid-May, Josh apologized for his “wrongdoing,” according to People. Ultimately, after being suspended from its programming, the Duggars’ show 19 Kids and Counting was cancelled by TLC. Even then, there was speculation that Michelle and Jim Bob Duggar distanced themselves from Josh so that they would not face even more negative publicity because whenever they were together, the press followed their interactions.

A source stated the following according to Yahoo! Parenting. “Jim Bob and Michelle love their son, and they love when they can spend time with his family….But every time they’re photographed with him, a story gets made out of it that rehashes the whole mess–and it’s painful for everyone.” The source stated that they are actively avoiding Josh because of the scandal.

Even though the Duggars’ focus has always been on family, psychoanalyst Amy Morin stated that such distancing from Josh may actually benefit the family now. She noted that distancing from Josh may allow the family to deal with all the changes they have recently faced in a more private setting, outside the light of the media. Morin stated the following.

“[D]istancing themselves from their son could be a way for the family to try and deal with the issue a little more privately….[N]ot only are they dealing with their son’s inappropriate sexual behavior, they’re also dealing with the information being made public. Everyone in the family may be struggling with all the changes they have experienced. The victims, the other children, and the rest of the family may need to deal with those changes without constantly appearing in the headlines.”

Even with the passage of time, and especially in light of the recent revelation of Josh Duggar cheating on Anna, the Duggars will likely be in the spotlight for a while.

Do you think that Josh’s wife Anna will distance herself from him and separate from or divorce him? Do you think that she should? Do you believe that Michelle and Jim Bob should distance themselves from their son? Please leave your comments below.

And Josh may even have more to explain beyond his two purported Ashley Madison accounts. According to an Inquisitr article, an email linked to the Ashley Madison account reportedly belonging to Duggar has been located as a screen name on another dating site called OkCupid. If this, and perhaps even more dating sites, are found to have been used by Josh, will family members abandon him in his time of need? Time will tell.

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