Talk about generational curses. Michelle Duggar seems to believe that Jim Bob Duggar's father Jimmy Lee (who went by JL when he was alive) was behind all of her son Josh's trouble. According to sources close to the family, Michelle has told anyone who will listen that JL is the real reason Josh became a sinner.
Michelle started sharing her theory back in 2015.
As Duggar critic Katie Joy of Without a Crystal Ball reported, inside sources say that when Josh was caught cheating on his wife Anna Duggar, Michelle apparently went into panic mode and tried to change the narrative about what was going on.
"She reached out to multiple friends and placed the blame squarely on Jim Bob Duggar's dad JL Duggar," Katie claimed in a lengthy Instagram post shared over the weekend.
Michelle thinks her father-in-law is the source of all her son's ills.
"According to a verified source, Michelle claimed that Josh inherited the sins of his grandfather," Katie continued, explaining how this is a big teaching point in the Duggars' cult-like religion, the Institute in Basic Life Principles, because they believe every person inherits the sins of their ancestors.
JL doesn't exactly have a squeaky clean reputation himself. Rumor has it he spent some time behind bars back in 1981.
The IBLP believes that people can eventually outrun their ancestral curses.
Katie continued her post by writing that the church does claim there's a way to get around the mistakes of your forefathers.
"In order to fix the problem, Gothard teaches them the number of generations that need to abstain from the sin for the sin to no longer be genetic," she wrote.
The worried mother has made a list of all of JL's infractions, which could explain a lot about Josh's behavior.
According to Katie, Michelle has told sources that JL was unfaithful to Josh's grandmother (something Katie was able to confirm with Deanna Duggar).
In addition to that, she claimed that her father-law-suffered from an addiction to pornography, abused alcohol, and was never around for his children.
Apparently Michelle says all of this is the real reason her oldest son has gotten into the trouble he has over the years.
Not everyone believes Michelle's theory about her son.
Although it may make Michelle feel better to believe there was nothing she could do to stop her son from the horrifying things he's been accused and convicted of, it doesn't appear many people buy her story.
In fact, the comments on Katie's post are full of people sounding off about why Michelle's claims are more likely wishful thinking than anything else. It makes sense that a mother would want to come up with an explanation for her son's crimes (especially when they're as horrific as Josh's), but that doesn't make it true.
