What to Know
The Duggar family is no stranger to public scandals, but the latest one seems to be hitting some of Jim Bob and Michelle‘s kids pretty hard. When Joy-Anna Duggar joined sister Jinger’s podcast this week, she admitted that she’s “struggling” in the aftermath of her brother, Joseph, and his wife, Kendra, both being arrested in March. With charges this serious, it’s no wonder she’s really going through it right now.
Jinger and Joy-Anna shared their conversation on Wednesday.
As Josh Duggar continues to serve out his sentence in federal prison, another one of the Duggar sons, Joseph, has found himself embroiled in legal trouble of his own after he was accused of molesting a 9-year-old girl during a family vacation. He’s been released from jail as he awaits his trial, and the details of his case have been everywhere — as have the details of his wife, Kendra, being arrested herself and charged with child endangerment.
Two months after Joseph’s arrest, Joy shared how she’s coping on the Jinger & Jeremy Podcast, admitting that it’s been “the hardest time I’ve ever gone through.”
“I think we’re all grieving in different ways,” she said. “I think every day just feels so heavy.”
Joy called the experience ‘super dark.’
“I’ve really been struggling, honestly. And I think I’ve had to lean on the Lord more than I ever have, which is a good thing. That’s a positive thing. There’s no black and white answer,” she said, later adding, “I have to like grab on to the positive things, because it’s been super hard and super dark and really heavy.”
Now, it sounds like she’s ready to move forward as much as she can.
“I feel like the more I talk about it publicly, the more it just gets, like, rubbed in our faces, and I kind of want to just move on with life in some ways,” she said. “And so that’s been a hard balance.”
Jinger has also been open about her own struggle with it all.
Jinger has shared updates on how she’s doing as she processes Joseph’s arrest on her own, including in an Instagram Q&A session in April.
“It’s been a heavy season that reopened old wounds,” Jinger wrote at the time, via People. “I wanted to talk about these things on the pod, and at the same time it’s honestly so hard to do. I’ve been plugged in deep with my community here, not as active on socials, enjoying fun days with my little fam, and God is giving me help as I see brighter days ahead.”
This wouldn’t be an easy thing for anyone to go through — let alone with no expectations of any kind of privacy. Joseph should feel the weight of just how far reaching the consequences of his alleged actions really are as his sisters continue to work through it all.
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