Duggar Cousin Amy: Her Latest Response To Josh’s Many Troubles
If you’ve ever watched 19 Kids and Counting, you may be familiar with Duggar cousin Amy. Amy always stood out a bit when she appeared on the show, because she doesn’t share quite the level of conservative beliefs the larger family holds. While the Duggar girls were wearing skirts, Amy wore jeans. When dating, she held hands, kissed, hugged, and was able to date unchaperoned, unlike Jessa and Jill.
Since the news of Josh Duggar’s teenaged attacks on five underage girls, Amy has been one of the primary sources on how the family is holding up with the public scrutiny, and how everyone really feels toward Josh. Initially, Cousin Amy reacted defensively, but as more revelations have surfaced, she’s shared more of her thoughts, and they aren’t all exactly charitable toward her conservative cousin. Her latest post regarding Josh seems downright giddy — at the media mocking him.
Months before Josh Duggar’s police report was published publicly, Amy was making cryptic posts about gossip, forgiveness, and not knowing what’s going on in other people’s lives — but then, those were already normal for her, and may have nothing to do with Josh.
Gossip, gossip gossip… In their ears and out of mine.
— AmyRking (@amyduggar) March 26, 2015
Only a short time before the world learned of Josh’s crimes, Amy had wished him a happy birthday on social media, sharing an old photo of the two together as kids, with no indication that there was any strain in the relationship with her cousin.
That birthday was early in March. By the end of May, In Touch had released police reports that changed the lives of the Duggar family.
Quickly, speculation arose that Cousin Amy had been one of Josh’s victims, but her then-boyfriend (now husband) Dillon King dispelled that rumor on his Instagram page, saying Amy wasn’t involved.
Amy’s social media activity for a time centered around prayer, and dealing with life struggles. Though she didn’t say so directly, it was generally assumed that at least some of the problems in question involved dealing with the blowback from Josh’s behavior.
Since then, she’s spoken publicly and openly about the situation, calling the general Duggar drama “crap,” letting the world know she was eager to change her last name from Duggar, and declaring that the whole mess made her furious.
She’s still pretty vocal about the name change that distanced her just a bit more from her cousin.
If there’s any doubt about whether Cousin Amy harbors any last dredges of resentment against Josh and family for the effects the scandals had on her (she may have hoped the publicity surrounding the show and name would help boost her music career), she made it clear this week.
Law & Order: SVU will soon air a new episode based on Josh Duggar’s crimes against his sisters and another young girl. The news is being greeted with anticipation both by Duggar supporters and detractors — though it may be that some of the supporters don’t quite understand what the episode will entail: a post on I Dig The Duggars asking whether supporters would watch the episode received a number of replies from viewers who seemed to believe the Duggar family would actually be starring in the show.
There is one group of people that no one would expect to be excited about the sex crime drama taking on the Duggar family: the Duggar family themselves.
Yet Cousin Amy seems pleased.
Maybe she just really loves the show, and favors the “ripped from the headlines” episodes, but the appearance her post creates is that Josh Duggar’s cousin Amy can’t wait to see him and the family’s extreme conservative beliefs skewered in fan-fiction-esque style.
[Photo via: Family Research Counsel]
