What to Know
When the Duggar family is experiencing a scandal, leave it to cousin Amy Duggar to weigh in. Amy appeared on a podcast this week and didn’t hesitate to share that she’s spoken with Joseph Duggar’s alleged victim following his arrest back in March. Considering the fact that she’s been so open about what has gone on behind closed doors in her former reality TV family, is it really that surprising that she has her own take on this situation, too?
Amy shared the details of her conversation with the alleged victim.
While appearing on The Sarah Fraser Show this week, Amy revealed that she’s talked with the girl who accused Joseph of molesting her when she was 9 years old. Now 14, her confession is what led to his arrest in March, when he was charged with lewd and lascivious molestation of a victim younger than 12 in Florida and lewd and lascivious conduct by a person 18 or older in the state of Florida.
“I don’t want to speak for her or anything like that, but I will just tell you when I talked to this person, I just gave her hope,” Amy said. “I said, ‘This doesn’t have to destroy you. It really truly doesn’t.’ I just tried to offer her encouragement. I told her that if she ever just needed a safe place to talk, that I’m here.”
She added, “I told her,‘You speaking out and you being so honest and vulnerable, knowing the backlash and knowing the people that would turn their backs on you and not believe you and all the things, you are such a strong person.’ I hope she sleeps at night. I hope she finds healing.”
She has been outspoken about the scandal involving Joseph all along.
After Joseph was arrested, his wife, Kendra, was also taken into custody on charges of endangering a minor in a totally separate incident from Joseph’s crime, and at the time, Amy told TMZ that she wanted to change a statement she’d issued earlier to share her support with Kendra.
“I’m just going to steer that statement toward the kids, because that’s what matters right now is the kids’ safety — the victim and her family, and the four children that were in the home,” Amy said. “That is where my heart lies.”
Joseph’s next hearing is set for this fall.
So far, court proceedings haven’t been going very well for Joseph, who was recently denied his request to lift a no contact order against his four children. This week, his next hearing was set for September, according to 4029 News.
On the podcast, Amy admitted that she doesn’t think the future is looking very bright for Joseph, even though he did plead not guilty.
She said that she thinks the judge is going to “throw the book” at Joseph during the jury trial he requested, adding, “I don’t think Florida is messing around.”
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