Before Counting On was canceled, fans got to witness multiple Duggar grandbabies‘ births in specials that aired on TLC, but not every member of the family opted in to give the cameras full access. When the time came for Joy-Anna Duggar and husband Austin Forsyth to welcome their first child, son Gideon, Austin pushed back against letting the cameras into the hospital – something he now says he received “heat” for from the producers.
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While the couple appeared on The Jinger & Jeremy Podcast this week, Austin opened up about filming for Counting On around the time Gideon was born. So far, the births of Joy’s older sisters’ kids, Jill and Jessa, had been filmed for the show, so it was expected she would follow suit as she and Austin began their own parenthood journey.
“I don’t remember us having really big, like, ‘Oh, no, y’all can’t show this or whatever,’ [but] I think we did push back about having Gideon,” he said on the podcast. “I didn’t want any film crew there. I took a lot of heat for that.”
Austin admitted that thinking about handling a reality TV network in his future had never been something he’d prepared for, so there was a “a lot you just don’t know” how to handle when it comes up. And because he was so new to being filmed (whereas the cameras had been part of Joy’s normal for most of her life), it sounds like it was a pretty strange experience for him overall.
“I didn’t really trust the producers or the camera guys – not that the camera guys really had anything to do with the production,” he said. “I remember the producer telling me, ‘It used to be so hard getting stuff out of you and you always seemed like we were trying to entrap you or you always would think a long time about your answers and we just wanted something spontaneous.’”
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He continued, “I guess I was thinking if I’m gonna be on camera and this is gonna be out there forever, I really wanna be careful what I say.”
Now, Austin said he’s so far removed from that time in his life that someone else “almost has to bring it up” that they were on the show at all.
Joy and Austin do seem happier now that they’re able to share their lives on their own terms on YouTube and social media – and that included the births of their younger children.
Maybe saying goodbye to reality TV really was for the best for them.
