The new docuseries Shiny Happy People: Duggar Family Secrets has been promising an explosive tell-all approach to the legacy of the 19 Kids and Counting family. Now, according to new information obtained by Page Six about the Amazon Prime Video project, it seems like it will deliver thanks to appearances by former Duggar family friends Jim and Bobye Holt.
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Jim Bob and Michelle Duggar's former friends were interviewed by film crews.
Both Jim and Bobye appear to be on the special to talk about the day they found out that Josh Duggar had reportedly sexually assaulted five young girls, including four of his sisters. The couple's daughter, Kaeleigh, had been dating Josh in 2003 when Jim Bob and Michelle made the big reveal.
"What Jim Bob had said to us was, 'Josh has gotten into some trouble. He's touched his sisters inappropriately,'" Bobye recalled to the cameras.
Jim says Michelle balked at the idea that Josh had done something truly wrong.
When the longtime friends got together to talk about what had happened, Bobye referred to the assault as "molestation," which prompted Michelle to snap. "Don't you say that again," she allegedly said to her old friends.
"[Josh] had apparently been doing this since he was 12 and we found out when he was 15," Jim continued, asking when the Duggars wanted to clue the rest of the Holts in on the news. Only Michelle didn't think they needed to say anything, and told Jim that she planned to have "Josh confess to Kaeleigh once they were married."
Obviously, the concerned father wasn't on board with that plan.
"So I asked [Jim Bob], 'Were you basically saying you were trying to use my daughter as a carrot to get him to behave the right way?' And he said, 'Yeah, kind of,'" Jim continued, adding that he was there when Josh turned himself in to the state police for his alleged crimes.
"The state trooper said, 'I'm going to let you go this time, but if you do it again, I'm really going to come down hard on you,'" Jim alleges, claiming the trooper was a "friend of Jim Bob's."
Josh was sent to a special camp.
Amy Duggar said she remembers Josh being away right around that time. When she asked about her cousin's whereabouts, she said she was told Josh was "helping build families at a camp [because] he's a good guy like that," she said before noting that she knew "something was off."
It's believed that Josh was at a Christian camp for troubled boys at that time.
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We now know that Josh committed other crimes and was eventually imprisoned.
With so much known about the reality family — 19 Kids and Counting ran on TLC for years before it was canceled, eventually becoming Counting On without Josh — it's hard to believe there would be much left to uncover about the Duggars … but it seems like this new docuseries is intent on leaving no stone unturned.
Shiny Happy People: Duggar Family Secrets hits the streaming service on June 2.
If you suspect child abuse, you can call the Childhelp National Child Abuse Hotline at 1-800-422-4453 (1-800-4-A-Child), or go to Childhelp.org. The hotline is available 24/7.
