What to Know
When Anna Duggar wrote to Josh Duggar as he was awaiting sentencing for his federal conviction of possessing child sexual abuse material, she probably didn’t think her emails would eventually be available to the public. But now, they have been shared all over social media, including TikTok and Reddit, even if the emails she sent him are from 2022.
The Internet, well people on the internet, don’t care how old the emails are. What they care about is the fact that Anna seems to share Josh’s parents, Jim Bob and Michelle Duggar, in some of the emails. Elsewhere, Josh wrote to his parents with more anger than people have seen publicly of the former 19 Kids and Counting star. And really, the hits just keep coming.
Anna told Josh to forget about being a Duggar.
@mrskickstand JAIL EMAILS PART 4 #duggars #duggar #duggarfamily #duggartiktok #duggartok ♬ original sound – mrskickstand
The timeline is pretty important here. The emails that have been released on social media are from the time between Josh’s time in county jail and the start of his 151-month federal prison sentence. At the time, it seems, Anna and Josh had both soured on his parents. Jim Bob and Michelle released statements about their son’s conviction and they put up a united front publicly. But, behind the scenes, it sounds like there was some animosity between Josh and Anna and his parents.
“I hope you will come to a place where you can understand that God created you in HIS image,” Anna wrote to Josh. “Let go of being a ‘Duggar’ and whatever that means in your mind. Focus on how amazing the God who created the universe is. He created you. He has a plan for your life. He promises if you need wisdom, ask for it, and he will give it generously! Learn to hear his voice! The voices of your dad, your brother-in-laws, and your siblings have been primarily negative since you were 10 years old.”
When this bit was shared on TikTok, users commented that they didn’t realize before how much negativity was swirling in the family, primarily around Josh.
“This is crazy seeing Anna diss the family?!” Someone wrote.
Another added, “My takeaway from this is actually quite positive of the Duggars. They tried to hold him accountable and he didn’t like it.”
She also said it’s a “dead end road” to please Jim Bob.
Anna also wrote in her emails to Joshy (throw back to ‘Joshy Girl’ for the real ones), she told her husband that it’s essentially pointless to try and please Jim Bob.
“You are striving so much to please your dad. It’s a dead-end road,” Anna wrote. “And you keep trying.”
She also told her incarcerated husband that she was tired of being anything “less than perfection” for Jim Bob and Michelle while living in their home. And, she wrote to Josh, she was done with trying to hard herself.
“I’m just want to be done. Done being hurt. Done being judged. Done with being pounded on for everything [I] do,” she wrote. “The constant judging, the constant critiquing all happens while I’m making their dinner, washing their laundry, mopping their floors and doing their dishes.”
Spoiler alert: Anna has not come out to publicly turn her back on her in-laws since these emails.
Josh also accused Jim Bob of turning Anna against him.
There really was some family drama going on behind the scenes before Josh began to serve his federal prison sentence that no one else knew about. In hindsight, it seems like Josh and Anna wanted to go against his parents because of what they saw from his behavior, but in the end, Anna is still in contact with her in-laws and she still seems to depend on them financially.
In one of the Reddit threads about the emails, though, Josh did openly accuse Jim Bob of how Jim Bob and Michelle were portraying him to his own wife.
“Anna told me you said something about that it’s over, move on and accept it or something like that,” Josh wrote. “If you can please accept as it is meant, please don’t discourage my wife from defending my case and please don’t discuss it with her if you are going to discourage her or accuse me. I have clearly maintained my innocence of these alleged charges and I will forever. Whether you agree or not is not my problem. But you are tearing me down and you are not helping anything with your words to my wife and others. Can you please just make yourself humble and not try to make yourself look good to others? GOD is the only one that matters and what he thinks.”
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