Jessa Duggar Seewald and her older sister, Jill Duggar Dillard, are joined by a surprising face in the latest promo for Jill & Jessa: Counting On . For the first time, Anna Duggar is shown speaking out about the heartbreak that her husband caused.
The new Jill & Jessa: Counting On promo includes a few scenes that were already shown in the first promo, which only featured Jill and Jessa Duggar. The reused scenes include clips that show Jill crying and Jessa asking, “How could this happen?” However, Jill and Jessa definitely aren’t the main focus of the second promo that was recently shared by People . The promo’s focus quickly shifts to Anna Duggar when Jill makes a comment about her sister-in-law.
“My first thoughts were for Anna,” Jill says.
Anna Duggar pops up in the promo after Jill makes this comment, providing evidence that Jill and Jessa Duggar will not be the only members of the Duggar family that star in Jill & Jessa: Counting On .
“It was heartbreaking to hear what had happened,” a teary-eyed Anna says. She’s then shown looking down and softly saying, “Yeah.” You can check out the Jill & Jessa: Counting On promo below.
It’s unclear which of Josh Duggar’s scandals Jill, Jessa, and Anna are talking about in the promo. In May of this year, the Duggar family’s squeaky-clean image was tarnished by the revelation that the Duggars had been hiding a dark secret for years. In Touch Weekly obtained decade-old police reports from an investigation into the family, and they revealed that Josh Duggar had sexually molested four of his younger sisters and another unnamed girl. Josh lost his job with the Family Research Council as a result of the revelation, and the Duggar family quickly circled the wagons around Josh.
On the Duggar Family website, Anna released a statement saying that she was aware of Josh’s “past teenage mistakes” when she married him. She claimed that he “changed his life” and grew up to be “a man who knows how to be a gentleman and treat a girl right.” Jill and Jessa Duggar were two of Josh’s victims, and they also tried to help their brother out by appearing on Megyn Kelly’s Fox News Channel show, The Kelly File , to downplay the sexual molestation.
“He made some bad choices, but really the extent of it was mild, inappropriate touching, on fully clothed victims, most of it while girls were sleeping,” Jessa Duggar said.
However, as In Touch Weekly points out, Josh’s behavior got worse because his parents allowed him to continue living under the same roof as his victims. He eventually sexually molested his five-year-old sister while she was awake, and he also groped one of his sisters while she was standing in the laundry room. Jessa’s defense of Josh wasn’t enough to save the Duggar family’s TV series, 19 Kids and Counting , from being cancelled.
Just when the world started losing interest in the sexual molestation scandal, another Duggar bombshell dropped. Late in August, Gawker revealed that Josh had a paid account on Ashley Madison , a website used for arranging extramarital affairs. Soon afterward, Josh released a statement in which he confessed to cheating on his wife and being addicted to internet pornography. This time around, Anna Duggar didn’t release a statement, and no members of the family bothered trying to defend Josh on TV. Instead, Josh left his family to spend time in a faith-based treatment center .
Over on the Jill & Jessa: Counting On Facebook page, some critics are blasting TLC for using Anna to help Jill and Jessa’s series of specials get higher ratings.
“Using Anna to get viewers is a new low, even for Jill and Jessa,” Nataly Noblitt wrote.
“Interesting advertising tool. Anna’s tragedy is being exploited for ratings, money, and reality TV fame,” Amy Coker Pascoe commented.
Sue Jessee’s criticism was a bit more harsh.
“Pimping out Anna now — you money-hungry people will stoop to the lowest of lows. You should be encouraging Anna to get the heck out of your family and get her children to safety away from their child-molesting father! Hypocrites, beggars, lay non-working grifters that will do anything for money. Get a freaking job and get Anna and her kids out of there!”
During a recent interview with People , Jessa Duggar hinted that her sister-in-law might be making an appearance in Jill & Jessa: Counting On . Jessa revealed that Anna tried to help her induce labor by walking up and down stairs with her 20 times. As the Associated Press reports, one main focus of Jill & Jessa: Counting On will be Jessa’s pregnancy and the arrival of her first child, Spurgeon Elliot Seewald. This means that viewers might get to see Anna and Jessa doing stairs together during one of the upcoming specials.
The birth of Jessa Duggar’s baby boy came with plenty of moments that fans of the Duggar family will likely want to tune in to see. People reports that Jessa attempted a home birth, but things went horribly wrong after Spurgeon made his dramatic entrance in front of the TLC cameras — Jessa started bleeding so profusely that she had to be taken to the hospital for a blood transfusion . According to ETonline , Jessa and Ben Seewald also built up the baby drama by taking an entire week to decide on a name for the baby. One of the Jill & Jessa: Counting On specials will likely show the couple’s discussions about what to call the little boy who would eventually be dubbed Spurgeon Seewald.
The Jill & Jessa: Counting On specials will also focus on Jill Duggar and Derick Dillard’s controversial mission trip. As the Inquisitr previously reported, the TLC cameras were spotted filming Jill and Derick shopping for jean skirts and shoes in Guatemala. According to Entertainment Weekly , the first of three Jill & Jessa Duggar: Counting On specials will premiere on December 13 at 8 p.m. ET on TLC. The other specials will air December 20 and 27 at 9 p.m. ET.
Are you surprised to see Anna with Jill and Jessa Duggar in the latest Jill & Jessa: Counting On promo?
[Image via TLC ]