It’s possible that Anna Duggar knew that Josh Duggar was about to pay dearly for the sexual molestation that he and his parents tried to keep secret for over a decade.
Josh recently admitted to forcibly fondling the breasts and genitalia of five underage girls, including four of his sisters . Shortly before In Touch Weekly published the redacted police report documenting Josh’s crimes , his wife, Anna Duggar , shared an Instagram post about forgiveness. You can read it below.
According to Us Weekly , Anna’s message was posted four days before the In Touch report was published. Anna’s message could be evidence that the Duggars knew that Josh Duggar’s past was about to come back and haunt him — it seems a bit like a preemptive measure to try to discourage Anna’s Instagram followers from condemning Josh. However, many of her followers haven’t been as forgiving as she has.
“How can you forgive a molester who molested his own Sisters!!!” one commenter wrote. “His own family!! He could probably be doing that behind your back as well with your children. This utterly disgusting to think about.”
As the Inquisitr previously reported, Anna Duggar admitted that she knew about Josh’s past before they got married.
“I can imagine the shock many of you are going through reading this,” she wrote in a statement. “I remember feeling that same shock.”
According to PEOPLE , Anna referred to the crimes that Josh was never prosecuted for as “ past teenage mistakes ,” and she praised her husband for “his openness and humility.” Anna didn’t mention Josh’s victims at all.
It’s possible that Josh and Anna Duggar were prepared to respond to the In Touch report because the tabloid contacted the family to get their side of the story before it was published, or perhaps someone at the police department simply notified the Duggars about the request after it was made.
One of Ben Seewald’s Instagram posts could also be evidence that the Duggars knew that someone was about to expose Josh’s past. In the post, Ben seems to take aim at Jim Bob and Michelle Duggar for being bad parents. Ben shared the Mother’s Day message earlier this month, and it contains scathing words about abuse and parents turning a blind eye to their kids’ bad behavior. However, Ben doesn’t mention Jessa Duggar’s parents by name, so it’s possible that he didn’t have them in mind while writing it.
Fans have also pointed out that Josh and Anna Duggar recently purchased a house in Arkansas. Perhaps Josh knew that he was about to lose his cushy job with the Family Research Council in D.C., so he was prepared to move back to his home state to be closer to his family. However, there’s also a good chance that Josh was planning on running for political office in Arkansas — the Duggars are very active in politics, and former Arkansas governor Mike Huckabee even came to Josh’s defense after he admitted to sexually abusing his little sisters.
According to Arkansas’ KFSM 5NEWS , Senator Bart Hester is also fighting for Team Duggar by calling for Springdale, Arkansas police chief Kathy O’Kelley to be fired simply for fulfilling the Freedom of Information Act request to release Josh Duggar’s police report. According to the Associated Press , Hester has known Duggar for about five years , and he commends his friend for “being open and honest” about what he did.
According to Josh and Anna Duggar’s website, they first met in 2006, which is the same year Josh’s police report was filed. They were married in 2008, and Josh seems to hint that his “urges” made it difficult for him to wait for physical relations with his wife.
“I was raised in a Christian home,” Josh writes. “As a young man, I was taught to wait for God’s best in my life partner. But as time went along and I grew older it was harder to keep my heart only for the one that God had for my life partner.”
Josh seems to reference the molestation in another passage, but he simply refers to his actions as “wrong thoughts.”
“As I became a teenage young man I was constantly tempted to have lots of wrong thoughts, and often battled to keep my heart right. One of the greatest things that helped me in my struggles was my parent’s commitment to accountability. They were faithful to talk with each one of their children – if we were willing to share honestly & openly with them – to maintain a clear conscience. I learned quickly that great freedom can be achieved by accountability, and great accountability requires humility & openness. I often had failures in my early teenage years, but found I had a clear conscience only when I was willing to confess my thoughts and temptations quickly to God & my parents.”
Josh and Anna Duggar were married in 2008, and they currently have three children: Mackynzie (5), Michael (3), and Marcus (1). Anna is pregnant with her fourth child, which is due to arrive early in July. PEOPLE reports that Josh and Anna are having another girl . Anna doesn’t work and Josh is now a jobless pariah with no college education, so their family might have to rely on a lot of financial help from Jim Bob and Michelle Duggar.
Do you think Anna Duggar should be so quick to forgive Josh Duggar for putting her and her family in such a terrible position, or is she simply getting what she signed up for all those years ago?
[Image credit: Anna Duggar /Instagram]