Duggar Family Siblings Jinger And Josiah At Show Today As Replacements for Jessa Duggar

Duggar family children Jinger and Josiah appear onstage today in Jacksonville, Florida, as last-minute replacements for their sister Jessa Duggar Seewald. Jessa was scheduled for her last engagement of the year with the Southern Women’s Show, but was suddenly removed and replaced with her siblings.

The event’s website features a statement that Jessa Duggar’s appearance was canceled due to “unforeseen circumstances.” The site offered no other explanation other than posting, “Jessa Duggar Seewald is unable to attend.”

Jessa Duggar’s picture was removed from the post and replaced with a photo of Jinger Duggar. The two Duggar family sisters have appeared together at many engagements over the years – with the cast of the family’s now defunct reality TV series, 19 Kids and Counting, and with sisters Jessa, Jill, and Jana as co-interviewees in the book authored by Charlie Richards, Growing Up Duggar.

The 21-year-old Jinger has yet to define a career goal or to seek additional education since she finished the homeschool courses at the Duggar family kitchen table at age 16. At one time, she expressed a desire to learn photography and to move to a big city. She appears to be just biding time at her parent’s home until marriage, following the course of her three older sisters.

It was rumored that Jinger might be dating Lawson Bates, another member of a 19-kid family with a reality TV show. The two were seen together earlier this month in Tennessee at a football game. As soon as the Inquisitr broke the story. However, Lawson removed the video he took of Jinger at the game from his Twitter feed. Perhaps he didn’t want to encourage speculation that he and Jinger are a couple.

Jinger has often been referenced as the most beautiful Duggar family daughter, but she is also known for her quirky expressions that reveal an independent attitude. Jinger is the only one in her family to have a forum named in her honor, Free Jinger. That forum is quick to point out that it is not a Duggar fan site. In fact, most of the postings about Duggar family members are derogatory. Posters there, though, do have a soft spot for Jinger, only because they once had such high expectations that she would leave the family home and strike out on a career of her own in a city far from Arkansas. There has been no recent sign from Jinger that those plans are on her agenda.

Jinger will appear in Florida on stage with her brother Josiah. Josiah stopped his homeschooling and held a graduation of sorts in the Duggar family living room in November, 2013. The event was filmed by TLC for the family’s reality show. Because he did not attend an accredited school, he has no high school diploma. Like his sister, Jinger, he doesn’t have a GED either. After the party, he was sent to ALERT Academy, a quasi paramilitary center affiliated with the ATI homeschool program, which claims to turn homeschooled boys into men.

In April, the 18-year-old Josiah entered into a formal courtship leading to marriage with a 17-year-old girl. After it was publicly revealed that big brother Josh had molested several minor girls (including four younger sisters), the courtship was called off. Ironically, Josh was filmed by TLC for an episode of the Duggar family reality show giving courtship advice to the teenaged Josiah. (It was then disclosed in late August that Josh had committed adultery and was a member of an online dating site for those seeking sex outside of marriage.)

In the two years since Josiah stopped his home schooling lessons, he has been doing odd jobs for his father Jim Bob. He doesn’t appear to be on a specific career path or to have a goal for higher education.

Today’s event in Jacksonville is not billed as a speaking engagement. Rather, the brother and sister will appear on stage and answer random questions from the audience. Those questions, however, are given to a moderator who carefully screens what is asked to avoid questions about Josh and other recent Duggar family scandals. The two seem like odd choices as guests at the women’s event, which includes presentations by actress Britt Nilsson, hair stylist Michael O’Rourke, beauty and lifestyle expert Noreen Young, and celebrity chef Kenny Gilbert. But then, sister Jessa Duggar was an odd choice, too, and not without criticism.

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[Intro photo from TLCL]