Is Josiah Duggar Against His Family’s New TV Specials?
Josiah Duggar is the only adult Duggar child, other than Josh, who does not appear in any of the promos for TLC’s three-part special, Jill & Jessa: Counting On. Could 19-year-old Josiah’s absence be evidence that he was against his family returning to TV after the cancellation of 19 Kids and Counting?
People recently shared a Jill & Jessa: Counting On promo that shows the adult Duggar sons sharing their feelings about Josh Duggar’s cheating scandal. Josh won’t be appearing on the special because he’s currently enrolled in a “school of discipleship” in Illinois, but most of his adult brothers appear in the preview clip. This is what makes Josiah Duggar’s absence so conspicuous.
In the Jill & Jessa: Counting On promo, 25-year-old John-David Duggar reveals that he told Josh that he stopped looking up to him after the family found out that Josh was cheating on his wife, and 20-year-old Joseph Duggar says that Josh’s actions broke his heart. Because Josiah Duggar is the only adult Duggar boy who doesn’t appear in the promo to talk about Josh, this could be a sign that Jill & Jessa: Counting On viewers will not see him on the TLC special.
Perhaps Josiah Duggar was simply too upset to talk to the TLC cameras — or maybe he had another reason for being against the Jill & Jessa: Counting On specials. Earlier this month, a source close to the Duggars told ETonline that multiple members of the family are against the new TLC specials. These unnamed Duggars allegedly didn’t agree with trotting Anna Duggar out in front of cameras to cry about her husband cheating on her, and they believed that “certain members of the family are more focused on ratings and a paycheck than actually focusing on the issues at hand.”
Anna Duggar gets upset talking about Josh Duggar’s scandals in new #CountingOn promo. https://t.co/RT7mUbzqvn pic.twitter.com/XkGXRxU6pc
— HollywoodLife (@HollywoodLife) November 21, 2015
The members of the Duggar family who will not be appearing on the special reportedly declined to participate “out of respect to the serious ordeal the family has been going through in the last months.”
Adult Duggar daughters Jana, 25, Jinger, 21, and Joy-Anna, 18, can all be seen crying about their brother’s cheating scandal in one of the Jill & Jessa: Counting On previews shared by TLC. Jim Bob and Michelle Duggar are shown milling about in the background in some footage, and obviously Jill and Jessa Duggar make appearances in all of the preview videos. The only adult 19 Kids and Counting stars who don’t appear in any promos in some form or fashion are Josh Duggar, Josiah Duggar, and “rebel” cousin Amy.
There’s a possibility that Josiah Duggar doesn’t want to return to TV because he narrowly avoided having his heart broken in front of the TLC cameras earlier this year. In April, the Duggars revealed that Josiah was courting a 17-year-old family friend named Marjorie Jackson. Josiah and Marjorie announced their courtship in a video that was posted on TLC’s YouTube page. As you can see, Josh Duggar makes a guest appearance in the video to brag about his “good looks.”
At the time the video was posted, fans of the Duggar family believed that they would get to watch the teens’ relationship play out on the next season of 19 Kids and Counting. However, there would be no next season of the family’s reality series. As ABC News reports, 19 Kids and Counting was cancelled in July. The show’s cancellation was in response to the huge amount of negative media attention the Duggar family received after the news of Josh Duggar’s sexual molestation scandal broke. In May, In Touch Weekly published police reports that revealed that Josh had sexually molested four of his younger sisters and a babysitter.
According to Us Weekly, Josiah Duggar and Marjorie Jackson announced that they were ending their courtship on August 5, less than one month after the Duggar family found out that 19 Kids and Counting would not be returning to TV. Josiah’s parents released a statement saying that the couple’s split was “the Lord’s will,” and they insisted that Josiah Duggar and Marjorie Jackson remained good friends. However, RadarOnline claims that their breakup was a bitter one. According to the tabloid, Josiah proved that he and Marjorie weren’t exactly pals by deleting all photos of his ex from his Instagram page.
Duggar fans can watch to see if Josiah Duggar appears on Jill & Jessa: Counting On when the special premieres tonight at 8 p.m. ET on TLC. Do you think it’s possible that Josiah is upset with his family because they decided to return to TV?
[Image via Duggar Family Official Facebook]
