Jinger Duggar Says Duggar Family Had ‘Normal Life’ Before News Broke That Josh Cheated On Anna [Video]
Jinger Duggar says that life for the Duggar family was actually pretty ordinary right before the world found out that her older brother, Josh, was cheating on his wife of seven years, Anna Duggar. But did the cancellation of 19 Kids and Counting also have something to do with Jinger Duggar temporarily being able to live a “normal” life?
In a new sneak peek for the three-part TLC special, Jill & Jessa: Counting On, Jinger Duggar speaks out about Josh Duggar’s extramarital affair and the effect that it had on her family. According to Jinger, her family of 19 was finally able to live a somewhat normal life after interest in Josh’s sexual molestation died down.
This newfound normalcy probably had something to do with the fact that TLC cameras were no longer following the Duggars around. As the Inquisitr previously reported, the Duggar family’s TLC reality series, 19 Kids and Counting, was cancelled a few weeks after In Touch Weekly reported that Josh Duggar had sexually molested a babysitter and four of his younger sisters. The tabloid published police reports proving the validity of its story about the Duggar family’s sexual molestation secret. It took many weeks for public interest in the scandal to die down.
“A few weeks after our faces weren’t on the magazine covers anymore, we could go to the grocery store and it was kind of more like a normal life,” Jinger Duggar says in a new Jill & Jessa: Counting On sneak peek. “Then we got word that something new had come out.”
That “something new” was a Gawker story about Jinger Duggar’s scandal-plagued older brother cheating on his wife. Earlier this summer, hackers released a list of millions of men and women who had paid accounts on Ashley Madison, a dating website of sorts that advertises itself as a discreet way for people in relationships to cheat on their significant others. Josh Duggar’s account information was found in the leaked Ashley Madison user data.
19 Kids and Counting star Josh Duggar had a paid Ashley Madison account http://t.co/SyrLpPFzt0 pic.twitter.com/6ai8THr2Cj
— Gawker (@Gawker) August 19, 2015
In a statement on the Duggar family website, Josh responded to the Ashley Madison leak by confessing to cheating on Anna and trying to explain his actions by claiming that he was addicted to internet pornography.
“I think that, when we heard all this stuff, it was so unreal,” Jinger Duggar says in the Jill & Jessa: Counting On clip below. “We still have trouble comprehending it today.”
Jinger Duggar says her family still loves Josh, but she sheds a few tears while talking about the “hard pain” that her older brother has caused. She also speaks out about how the cheating scandal drastically changed the way the Duggar family views Josh. According to Jinger, now the family has no idea who Josh Duggar really is.
“This person that we knew is no longer the same person.”
“It’s hard to know what to do,” Jinger says. “Just continuing on in that everyday life stuff, it’s hard.”
The Jill & Jessa: Counting On sneak peek also shows a clip of Jinger helping her pregnant older sister, Jessa Duggar Seewald, pick out a “cozy” new chair. Jinger doesn’t seem to be enjoying their little shopping excursion, as evidenced by her eye rolling, sighing, and refusal to smile for Jessa’s chair picture. Jinger Duggar also has a look of complete disinterest on her face while Jessa rambles on about chairs, throw pillows, and blankets.
Jinger Duggar might not enjoy chair-shopping with Jessa, but the 21-year-old really does seem to love her older sister. According to Us Weekly, Jinger got really emotional when Jessa got married last year. Like all unmarried adult Duggar daughters, Jinger still lives at home with her parents. Jinger revealed that it was “super hard” when her sibling BFF moved out to start her new life as a wife because she feared that her relationship with Jessa would change. However, now it looks like things aren’t much different than they were before Jessa’s marriage — Jinger and Jessa are back together, and they’re living their lives in front of the TLC cameras. Jinger and her siblings only got a brief respite from the cameras before TLC announced that it was producing the Jill & Jessa specials.
Based on the way Jinger Duggar behaves in the latest Jill & Jessa: Counting On promo and her comments about being able to live a normal life after the cancellation of 19 Kids and Counting, do you think she would be happier without the TLC cameras around?
[Image via TLC]
