TV's Scandalous Christian Family and Their Fundamentalist Cult | The Duggars and IBLP Documentary

[Music] the Duggars became a household name in 2008 they were portrayed as a wholesome family with traditional religious views who were blessed with the gift of 19 children and happily sharing their experiences with the world or at least that's what Jim Bob and Michelle Duggar would have you believe behind the cameras their 19 children lived under strict control and indoctrination that told women they were worth no more than the wives and mothers they would grow up to be in fact it was the responsibility of the girls in the family to keep their brothers and fathers sexual urges in check to the point that the family had a code word Nike any time an attractive woman was near the girls would yell Out Nike so their dad and brothers would make sure to stare down at the floor and not be tempted [Music] yeah that happened while the parents raked in millions of dollars setting none of it aside for their children each Duggar child was forced to grow up on TV screens they weren't allowed to watch while one of their own carried out heinous crimes against them crimes that were covered up by the parents so how real is reality TV the hypocrisy of TLC's most loved family has scandals involving Ashley Madison concealed crimes connections to a cult lawsuits estrangements and one of their own being sentenced to over 12 years in prison breaking news tonight harsh reality for reality TV star Josh Duggar this is the story of how TV's wholesome Christian family went down in flames this is the rise and fall of the Duggars [Music] thank you [Music] before we begin a quick word from the sponsor of this video delete me let's talk about something creepy data Brokers data Brokers are corporations that collect huge amounts of personally identifiable information things like Social Security numbers birthdays past and recent addresses and more and package it all together to sell our personal information to anyone willing to pay putting us at risk for identity theft or Worse no federal privacy 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video that his father wasn't the best at managing money their family had their electric shut off at one time and their house was also foreclosed on but Jim Bob would blame those problems on his father losing what he called a spiritual Focus Michelle Rourke was born on the 13th of September 1966 in Ohio as the youngest of seven children when she was four years old Michelle moved with her family to Arkansas unlike Jim Bob Michelle wasn't raised in a religious home and she was given personal freedom of expression that she would later deny her children as a teenager Michelle attended Springdale High School when Jim Bob was 18 he was involved in proselytizing local neighborhoods where he knocked on doors in an attempt to share about his God on one of these visitation days after being repeatedly ignored by homeowners a friend told him about a local high schooler who had recently converted to Christianity the pair agreed it would be a good idea to visit the young woman and offer her spiritual support and encouragement that young woman was 16 year old Michelle Rourke Jim Bob and his friends spoke to Michelle at her home and later offered for her to come to their Church so she could meet other like-minded Christian teenagers for Jim Bob it was love at first sight but Michelle would later state that she didn't remember that first conversation at her doorstep it was a year later that Michelle applied for a job at a local yogurt store which happened to be run by Jim Bob's mother Jim Bob convinced his mom to give Michelle the job when she had been working at the yogurt store for a couple of weeks he struck up the nerve to ask Michelle to be his date to the junior banquet which was equivalent to prom at Jim Bob's Christian School Michelle agreed and from their very first date she knew he was the one that night she said she prayed quote father I can't imagine anyone better than this that you have planned for me he's such a Godly Man end quote on Christmas Eve of 1983 Jim Bob proposed to Michelle in the lounge of her parents home they set a date for July 1984 and planned a small ceremony in the hallway of a local gymnasium while their church was under construction Michelle's parents had to give their formal consent to the Union as Michelle was only 17 years old at the time while Jim Bob had turned 19 three days before their wedding they both knew they wanted children in the future but first they wanted to be self-sufficient Michelle stayed on birth control for the first few years of their marriage while they launched a used car sales business then a towing business and eventually they both got their real estate license in 1987 three years after marrying Michelle went off birth control and quickly got pregnant in March of the following year she gave birth to their first son Joshua James she went back on birth control after delivering Josh but she became pregnant again while on the pill in January of 1989 less than one year after their first child was born Michelle and Jim Bob sadly miscarried their second child they were heartbroken and when they consulted a Christian doctor to find out what happened he told them it was because Michelle had been on birth control inaccurately claiming it causes miscarriages it was in those moments that Jim Bob and Michelle swore to never use birth control again they consulted their Bible and decided that they shouldn't try to control their reproduction but instead have as many children as their lord determined they should have one year later Michelle gave birth to twins and a year after that she gave birth to another child and another in 1992 and another in 1993. when Michelle and I first got married we thought maybe we would want one or two or three children but we didn't know but we didn't want children when we first got married and so I'm showing on the birth control pill and was on that until just a little bit like three years into our marriage and then she went off the pill and we ended up having her first son Josh and then I went back on the pill and I ended up getting pregnant while on the pill and we ended up losing that baby and that was very difficult for for us because here we were parents holding this one baby in our arms enjoying uh being a mom and a daddy and then realizing that with our own lack of knowledge just allowing one of our own babies to be destroyed that was that was painful and at that point we were so grieved about this we asked a doctor and he said yes sometimes the pill will allow you to get pregnant but then it can cause a miscarriage and as we started studying the Bible and the Bible says that children are a blessing and a gift from God and a reward from him we just really felt like that we need to give this area of our life to God we prayed we said I love her and we gave that area of our life to the Lord and right after that God blessed us with twins and then another one and another one and another one and another one and before we knew it we had so many little ones and just two of us by 1995 they were on to their seventh child this was the same year that the quiverful religious movement formed quiverful is a conservative Protestant religion that is most known for its stance against birth control and the belief that bearing as many children as possible is your duty to God the name quiverful comes from a verse in the Bible which provides the founding belief of the religion stating quote behold children are a Heritage from the Lord the fruit of the womb is a reward like arrows in the hand of a warrior so are the children of one's youth happy is the man who has his quiver full of them Believers in the quiverful movement see their role as building God's Army Michelle and Jim Bob took this to heart and decided to create an army of their own for the next 20 years Jim Bob and Michelle welcomed more and more children into the world at the rate of one child every 18 months or so by 2009 they had 19 children which doesn't include any pregnancies they miscarried but it's not only childbearing that quiverful has an opinion about the quiverful movement also advocates for what they call traditional religious Family Values such as men being Superior to women and that women submit to men they believe women should be responsible for running the household raising the children being available at any time for sex and basically doing everything they are told to do by their husband while Jim Bob and Michelle have claimed they are not followers of the quiverful movement there are many references to the religion and links to quiverful.com on their family website while Michelle had been raised in a household where she had a healthy amount of freedom to be a kid and a growing teenage girl she determined this was not going to be how she raised her children by the time Jim Bob and Michelle were on to their eighth child and their firstborn was ready to start school the family had become fully immersed in the quiverful movement Jim Bob and Michelle decided they would homeschool all their children and raise them as devout independent Baptists whose core beliefs are Purity modesty and faith in the Christian God these rules are found both in quiverful and the guidelines of the Institute of basic life principles or iblp iblp is an ultra-conservative Christian organization which provides Direction on how to raise children and teach them seven specific life principles in order to achieve success in life these principles basically state that men have authority over everyone but in particular women and that moral Purity should be your leading life goal one of the other principles determines that anything someone does against you should be forgiven and that when someone hurts you you should use it as an opportunity to fix yourself and just as that principle is used by Predators everywhere it will become particularly relevant to the Duggars but more on that later under the iblp principles women are expected to obey men in every way and their role is to be nothing more than good wives and mothers saying there are too many children is like saying there's too many flowers women are not allowed to flirt nor can they wear makeup perfume or anything that could induce lust in a man like high heels or short skirts women must wear long dresses never cut their hair and men must wear suits and be circumcised there is to be no television or media in the home except when it comes from a Christian source and no dancing allowed drinking alcohol is strictly forbidden under both iblp and quiverful children are to be homeschooled so they aren't negatively influenced by their rampant degradation of society outside the home the Bible must be read daily with time set aside to meditate on the Bible lessons of the day on top of that girls in particular should only leave the household if absolutely necessary the iblp also provides a homeschool curriculum which indoctrinates this belief system starting from before A Child enters kindergarten these strict rules are ultimately about control specifically men having control over women for that reason the iblp has been labeled as a cult many ex-iblp followers have come forward saying that the leaders are viewed as gods in their own right which goes against biblical beliefs they've also claimed that if you go against any one of the iblp rules you will be threatened with punishment and isolation from other believers the iblp was founded by an American Christian minister named Bill Gothard in 1961. bill was incredibly popular and grew the organization to a reported turnover of 63 million dollars by 2006. one day a a freshman girl said to me why would God allow me to be born in a family where my mother has been in and out of a mental hospital for 18 years my father's not a Christian and all these pressures in our family I said to her God is alive that irritation for you because he wants to build insight and wisdom character in your life why don't you make it your goal to assist your mother in overcoming her mental problems she said how can I do that I said well the first thing you do is explain to your mother that one thing that's not been explained to her so far that she is responsible for her attitudes she's not a victim she's responsible for her words her thoughts or actions or attitudes and when that daughter was an attack full loving way able to help her mother see her own personal responsibility that mother was able to come to new mental freedom but in 2014 Bill suddenly disappeared from the organization he founded 50 years earlier while the Public Announcement claimed Bill resigned it was revealed that he was on administrative leave because an investigation into his conduct was being carried out more than 30 women had come forward to claim that Bill had committed essay against them and harass them the church acted quickly to say that their investigation had not revealed any criminal activity but that he had acted inappropriately and was therefore no longer able to hold any leadership roles in the organization two years later some of those same women who came forward sued iblp and Bill Gothard directly but the case was voluntarily withdrawn the Duggar shopping list of belief systems for their 19 children was in stark contrast with the relative Freedom Jim Bob and Michelle had growing up while Michelle had been allowed to wear pants swimsuits and makeup when she was younger her girls weren't allowed to wear makeup and were only allowed to wear long plain dresses that covered their shoulders chests and legs even at the beach the girls were expected to wear What's called modesty swimwear which covered them from their necks down to their knees while swimming while Michelle and Jim Bob had access to television and read books from the library the Duggar children weren't allowed access to television and all reading material was confined to religious Christian texts only the girls weren't allowed to go to public swimming areas in case they caused a man to feel something towards them because under the Duggar's religious belief system it's a woman's fault when a man can't control himself therefore the role of women is to make sure men can control themselves by wearing modest clothing and not making themselves attractive or seductive although such terms are subjective in fact in one of the adult children's books a Duggar daughter wrote how they had a family code word Nike the girls would say Nike to warn their father and brothers that end in modestly dressed woman was coming their way and to keep their eyes down as it was every female's responsibility to manage their male family members sexual urges mom of 19 has posted her advice for newlyweds on the Duggar family website first quote be available Michelle says a friend once told her even when you're tired at night from taking care of kids be available for your husband's need for intimacy the friend said quote not just available but be joyfully available for him no matter what even though you may be exhausted and you may not feel like he feels I'm still here for you and I'm going to meet that need because I know it's a need for you the strictness of the rules that their religion dictated became particularly apparent when the older children reached 13 years and began to express interest in romantic relationships the girls were forbidden from being alone with males and had to be chaperoned if they wanted to get to know someone Jim Bob and Michelle also implemented what they called the buddy system where the girls were assigned to a brother who would attend any date with them to make sure the meeting was strictly conversational and not physical there was to be no physical romance until after the marriage this included no kissing or hand-holding if someone wanted to date one of the children they would have to ask permission from the head of the family Jim Bob texting was allowed but only in a group text with Jim Bob and Michelle hugging was allowed but only in view of others and only from the side and not with the front of their bodies touching but the buddy system didn't just apply to dating the older children were expected to parent their younger siblings they had to dress bathe and feed them and generally take responsibility for their younger siblings but there was a caveat this responsibility was only assigned to the girls by the time there were enough girls in the family they were assigned a group of their siblings to take care of again reinforcing the belief that a woman's value is only in taking care of others the Duggars proclaimed that the buddy system was mentoring and helping to build a strong bond between their children but experts have an entirely different view of the practice in the world of psychology forcing young children to parent their siblings is referred to as parentification parentification blurs the boundaries between normal childhood emotions and the expectations placed upon them in their semi-parenting role how can a child receive the love and care they need emotionally when they are attempting to provide love and care to a younger child in the Duggar family forcing the girls to mature faster was idealized many episodes show the girls being praised for performing their motherly roles rather than for normal achievements of children their age this is Duggar can you tell me just what was your home like growing up was it like this filled with lots and lots of children well actually no when I came along I'm I'm the baby of seven and so by the time I arrived my older siblings some of them were married having their own families and so um I have cousins I have nieces and nephews and different ones that are older than me I was an aunt before I was ever born but I think I remember having just a very happy childhood growing up my mother and father really made a happy home for us and probably because they had a hard childhood growing up my daddy's father died when he was four my mother's mother passed away when she was 14 and their home just dissolved at that point so when my mom and daddy met they decided they were going to make a family a home and a fun place for their family to grow up and so I just remember having great birthday parties my mama made cakes and I invited all my little friends in the neighborhood over and I was probably the biggest tomboy there ever was because I didn't have very many you know kids my age in my home to play with and so I would go out and play with my dog and climb trees and catch frogs and do all that kind of stuff and and so I just remember fond memories of my childhood and of course my older siblings would say to me you've got it here you are you're the baby and you don't even have to keep your room clean and you know we learned how to cook when we were young and here you are you don't even know how to make french toast you know so I was like I guess I am kind of spoiled being the baby out of seven but it was great it was really good that's right and my friend Liz from Vermont says do you ever feel like you're not able to give attention to each child on an individual basis well I think um any mom probably could feel that way if they have more than one child because one child can demand all of your time and then two you'd have to duplicate yourself but in reality I think um my oldest daughter Jill she's worded it so wisely she said Mama people just don't understand when we're part of a big family she said love doesn't divide it multiplies and so as we have seen with our family one of the great dynamics of our families we've chose to homeschool our children and so that's been one of the best decisions we've made for our family personally because we're together 24 7. and so we're schooling we're doing our music together we are eating together we're going shopping together and we probably get to spend more time individually with our children than maybe a family of two three or four that are meeting themselves coming and going to so many different activities and things and so while Michelle homeschooled the children Jim Bob's career was taking off he had moved from selling real estate to a blossoming career in politics in 1999 he was elected to the Arkansas House of Representatives as a Conservative Republican by 2002 he had his sights set on bigger things and ran in the Republican primary election for the United States Senate however he was defeated in a landslide he lost again in 2006 and once more in 2021 when he came third out of four candidates in the state senate elections but some Luck came out of his short stint in his early days in politics during his first failed bid for the U.S Senate Jim Bob had been photographed at the poll Booth with his many children all dressed in matching outfits that photo would later be a turning point for the family despite his short-lived political career Jim Bob had made some profitable commercial real estate Investments and the couple were able to live off the proceeds of rental income from their properties in the year 2000 the couple were on to their 12th child and they needed a larger home they purchased a plot of land in Tontitown Arkansas where they planned to build their seven thousand square foot dream home it was not long after construction began that representatives from the discovery TV network reached out to the family and offered them an opportunity and while Jim Bob and Michelle didn't allow television in their own home they signed on their children to be featured on TLC the children were about to be thrust into a limelight they never asked for and their world would change forever foreign [Music] TLC was established in the early 1980s and was formerly known as The Learning Channel originally it featured educational and instructional programs which were often collaborations with the Department of Health and NASA it also featured documentaries on History Science and current events in 1985 TLC came up against its biggest rival when the Discovery Channel was established the Discovery Channel had a similar lineup of programming but it seemed to be able to capture the attention of audiences far more effectively than TLC over the next few years TLC's popularity declined and in 1991 the Discovery Channel Inc bought TLC almost immediately the educational content which had been Central to TLC was moved over to Discovery and Executives decided on a new direction for the channel they started out with reality shows like Trading Spaces junkyard Wars and a wedding story all of which were hugely successful Executives took this to mean that the viewing public wanted more shows about personal stories with plenty of drama and quirky personalities from then on the channel focused on the personal stories of people living in unique situations like John and Kate Plus 8 which became one of TLC's highest rated shows viewers were lapping up the increasingly Fringe characters featured on TLC and the channel began to produce more and more extreme shows from the disturbing Toddlers and Tiaras to 90 Day Fiance TLC fed the needs of viewers who wanted a glimpse into a world different than their own the fact that the people on these shows often made a spectacle of themselves was all the more alluring to the audience when Executives at TLC saw the picture of Jim Bob Duggar followed by his football team of children they knew they had to have the family featured on the channel initially they approached the family with an offer of a one-hour special titled 14 children and pregnant again Jim Bob and Michelle agreed and the special was screened in 2004. it was an instant hit with TLC viewers so the channel came back with another offer a second one hour special focused on the construction of their new home the house was only part way done so the Duggars negotiated an agreement which would see their home completed by volunteers and donations saving Jim Bob and Michelle from any out-of-pocket expenses but it wasn't only the house that Discovery Network paid for they also provided Furniture appliances and stocked the pantry for the family before they moved in by 2006 the family had grown to 16 and the special which was called 16 children and moving in was screened to rave reviews TLC viewers demanded more and the Duggars were only too happy to oblige in 2007 the family began production of 17 Kids and Counting By 2009 it was updated to 18 Kids and Counting and then 19 Kids and Counting by the time they were filming season four so what would prompt the family to share their strict religious lives on TV when they don't even allow television in their own home Jim Bob and Michelle stated it was because children were a blessing and not a burden and they were happy to be able to share about their god with others and what he had done in their lives and while that might have been their true intentions there was no doubt the family was set to benefit financially over the course of the 10 seasons of their original format show Jim Bob and Michelle are believed to have made between 25 000 to 45 thousand dollars per episode but as the children got older it became clear that the money wasn't being shared with everyone involved in production just like the many children featured in other TLC programs the Duggar children had no choice about being involved in the show they weren't given the choice to say no yet they weren't paid for their part and didn't benefit financially from their participation there were no bank accounts created by the parents for the children to access once they turned 18 to inherit their portion of the show's earnings in fact the money issue was only revealed in 2017 when Jill one of the older Duggar children went public with her story about what it was like on the other side of the cameras she claimed she didn't see a scent until she quit the show and hired an attorney the reason behind the kids not getting paid was very closely tied to their religious beliefs given that Jim Bob was the superior male in the family he was in complete control of the money no doubt a portion of the money helped to pay for the living expenses of the family but given they had no mortgage and were regularly receiving free goods from show sponsors interviews and public appearances their earnings far outweighed their expenses let's take a brief look at child labor laws in the entertainment industry throughout history and how this applies to the Duggars [Applause] before 1927 miners acted under what was called the infancy Doctrine this common law was codified by the state of California in 1872 and gave any child under 18 the right to disaffirm contracts that provide for more than just their basic needs I.E food clothing Etc that meant a child could break any contract including employment contracts without facing legal repercussions the film industry hated that children had the upper hand and could jump ship to any competitor at any time they wanted to keep children locked in contract to exploit and extract as much revenue as possible at the height of the child's Fame in 1927 California legislature caved to the pressure from the film industry and in addition to the California civil code allowed for the removal of a Minor's right to disaffirm a contract once the contract was approved by the superior court of the county where such miners guides or is employed this meant major production companies like Paramount and MGM could find a judge to approve the contract for the minor to be legally Bound by it and worst of all there was no standard that a contract had to reach before it could be approved leaving children with no means of escaping these contracts and who do you think managed these young Stars their parents a famous child actor of the 1920s named Jackie Coogan found out that his mother and stepfather had spent almost all of the three to four million dollars he had earned throughout his career as a child actor at age 23 he sued his parents and won but after legal fees Jackie was left with nothing more than a hundred twenty six thousand dollars of his fortune after a long and successful career 22 year old Shirley Temple asked her father how much money was in her bank account her manager slash father told her there was only forty four thousand dollars left of the 3.4 million she earned as a child star in 1995 Macaulay Culkin's parents blew giant amounts of his money while in a bitter custody battle for their children with a Manhattan Supreme Court Judge David Sachs saying there was a real possibility that this young millionaire and his family could be evicted and left without any home by the year 2000 after 61 years of child actors being left destitute by their parents California's Coogan Act was revised and stated that a minimum of 15 of a child actor's gross earnings were to be placed in a trust fund and were no longer at the discretion of a judge on top of that the revision stated the income earned by a child actor is legally recognized as the child actor's property it could no longer be the property of their parent or Guardian similar laws were adopted in New York with child actors given what's called child performer trust accounts however federal labor laws created by the fair labor standards act do not extend to child entertainers this means it is up to state law to protect the children and at the time of this recording the U.S Department of Labor states that 17 states do not regulate child entertainment at all general labor laws are the only thing protecting child actors but that's child actors not the children of influencers reality shows and social media for these children it's unfortunately the Wild Wild West but Jill Duggar's Revelation about not seeing a scent of the money her parents earned after putting her and her siblings entire lives on display wasn't the first Scandal to disrupt the perfect family image Jim Bob and Michelle had crafted [Music] in 2014 Michelle came under Fire for her bigoted and harmful stance on lgbtq issues she recorded a political message which was delivered to thousands of phone numbers in which she stated quote the Fayetteville city council is voting on an ordinance this Tuesday night that would allow men yes I said men to use women's and girls restrooms locker rooms showers sleeping areas and other areas that are designated for females only I don't believe the citizens of Fayetteville would want males with past child predator convictions that claim they are female to have a legal right to enter private areas that are reserved for women and girls end quote this message caused an immediate uproar and a change.org petition calling on TLC to cancel 19 Kids and Counting received over a hundred thousand signatures TLC didn't respond and just three months later the Duggar family doubled down on their views against the lgbtq community they posted on their Facebook page asking their married fans to post pictures of themselves kissing their spouse thousands of photos were posted but the Duggars deleted any that involved same-sex couples this renewed calls to TLC for cancellation of the show which was once again ignored it has since been revealed that one of Michelle's own siblings is a lesbian because of this Michelle has shunned her sister Michelle also demanded that an lgbtq member of the production crew be removed from the team but the biggest Revelation about the family was yet to come in 2013 Jim Bob got Josh a job working for one of his old political buddies Tony Perkins president of the family research Council the family research council is an American Evangelical activist group and think take with an Affiliated lobbying organization FRC promotes what it considers to be family values the FRC opposes and lobbies against access to pornography embryonic stem cell research abortion divorce and lgbtq rights although Josh Duggar was only 25 at the time Tony Perkins made him executive director and Josh packed up his wife and children and moved to Washington for the job Tony Perkins told the media he hoped Josh would help the family research Council appeal to more young people and tap into Josh's huge popularity of his Evangelical Clan within the U.S but that wouldn't happen thanks to Oprah Winfrey let's rewind to 2006 the Duggar family was scheduled for an interview on Oprah's famous talk show but Harpo Studios Oprah's company received an anonymous email just one day before the interview the email shared details of Josh Duggar's essay the email also stated that Michelle and Jim Bob knew of it and had participated in covering it up to protect their son by this time the Duggar family were already in Chicago but Oprah refused to do the interview and sent them packing her team immediately alerted the child abuse hotline by forwarding the anonymous email the Arkansas State Police then reached out to Michelle and Jim Bob telling them they needed to get back to Arkansas as soon as possible so they could talk to their son Josh this was when Jim Bob hired an attorney on behalf of his son fast forward to May 2015 only two years after Josh began working as a lobbyist for traditional Family Values the truth about what he had done finally made its way to the public an immediate Firestorm the Press reported he had committed essay against four of his sisters as well as another young girl while they were asleep and awake and this wasn't a one-time thing it went on for years one of the victims told Jim Bob about what happened to her Jim Bob then confronted his son who admitted what he had done but that wasn't the most disturbing part of the Revelation Jim Bob waited over a year to report what his son had done to police he told the elders at his church but they too failed to report the essay to authorities what is probably most disturbing is that at the time of this recording 33 States including Arkansas where the Duggars live exempt clergy from reporting abuse unlike teachers and doctors who are mandated by the government to report information about alleged child abuse to police or child welfare officials pastors and members of religious organizations are under no such enforcement as 33 U.S states say these religious members can deem such information as privileged it's no wonder U.S churches are a breeding ground for predators when the felony investigation into Josh Duggar began Jim Bob refused to let his son be interviewed with little to go on other than the original police report and no access to the perpetrator or victims the case stalled eventually the three-year statute of limitations expired and the investigation was closed the police report noted that Jim Bob claimed to have disciplined Josh after the incidents which included sending him to a Christian Camp for four months where he received counseling and Michelle admitted Josh had been sent to stay with family but she claimed it was all okay because Josh had apologized to his victims for what he had done and they had forgiven him remember forgiveness is one of the key principles of the Institute of basic life principles and its teachings dictate that you must always forgive someone who asks for it in other words Josh's victims had no choice but to forgive their assailant Josh was also sent to spend time with an Arkansas State Trooper Jim Bob new Jim Bob thought this would help teach Josh a lesson despite working in law enforcement the trooper didn't take any official action when told about the assaults instead he had a Stern talk with the boy and let him go on his way ironically that same state trooper would later be sent to prison for possession and distribution of CP when the reports came out about what Josh had done to his siblings as a teenager and the attempted cover-up by his parents the family were Midway through screening the 10th season of their show the backlash to the reports was Swift and multiple advertisers and show sponsors immediately pulled their support from the show the entire back catalog of the Duggar's shows was removed and the original petitions to cancel the show resurfaced people were disgusted by the family's promotion of their wholesome family values when they had been well aware that their oldest son was a sexual predator and four of their children had been his victims in an effort to save face the family went into damage control they weren't about to give up their Cash Cow TV show without a fight they published an apology from Jim Bob and Michelle as well as a personal apology from Josh by this time Josh Duggar was 27 years old with a wife and four children at home he asserted that his wife was aware of the assaults and had forgiven him the family did the rounds on major Network talk shows including Megyn Kelly and so we thought what do we do with this information and the girls we talked to them and they didn't they didn't know that anything had happened because they were asleep and so we talked to him we put all kinds of punishments on him we watched him like all the time I took him to work with me and he just I mean we just poured our life into it were you scared like when you went to bed at night during that time frame were you scared were you worried you know he's 14 he's having this problem what's going to happen when we go to sleep right nothing ever happened like that again in the girls bedrooms after that okay okay so we had safeguards that protected them from that but there was another incident where uh two different incidents where girls were like laying on the couch and it was a and he had touched like over the couch and actually touched the breast while they were asleep and so yeah over their clothes and so it was uh it was a very difficult situation but as we talked to other parents and different ones since then a lot of families have said that they've had similar things happen in their families and so I mean this is for us of course this is public shame that our son did this back 12 13 years ago and when we heard that the Behavior had resumed describe what that was like for you we thought you know at first that that Josh you know was on the road to bend you know at first but he was still he was still a kid you know and he was still a juvenile he wasn't an adult and so there was a couple more times that he came and told us what he had done and we were just devastated now all these again this was not uh rape or anything like that this was like touching somebody over their clothes there were a couple incidents where you touched them under their clothes but it was like a few seconds and then he came to us and was crying and told us what happened and and it was after the that third time he came to us is where we really felt like you know what we have done everything we can as parents to handle this in-house we need to get help and that's actually when we we went to outside folks and we asked some very close friends if they could come over and some of my best friends came over we talked about it and and so at that point we pulled Josh out of the home and we knew of a man who mentored young men and he really helped young men who had made unwise choices in their lives to get straightened out and he was running a little training center in Little Rock Arkansas and under the roof of that training center in Little Rock Police Department on one side and you had a prison ministry on the other and he said Josh you come down there and actually do some construction work with him and he would counsel him and work with him and hopefully get him straightened out but the Duggars media apology tour didn't go over well as the damage was already done and in July 2015 TLC confirmed that the show was canceled and no further production of the show would take place by then the family had been on screens for more than 10 years TLC also announced a one-hour special that would highlight the impact of child abuse and feature two of Josh's victims his sisters Jill and Jessa in that interview Jessa downplayed her brother's responsibility for his actions stating quote in Josh's case he was a boy a young boy in puberty and a little too curious about girls and that got him into some trouble end quote this type of language could be seen as harmful to other survivors of sa but it was no surprise to those who understood the Duggar's belief system as women are to blame for men not being able to control their sexual urges or desires and then there's the disturbing belief that when someone hurt to you it's a chance for you to reflect on what you need to fix about yourself Josh now a National Disgrace resigned from the family research Council in May of 2015 and he and his family moved back to Arkansas but only two months later there would be more Scandal exploring relationships outside of my marriage has given me this newfound excitement in my life and alive again sex is the best I've ever had I didn't realize how much I needed something like this just for myself [Music] Josh's reputation took a further hit when the Ashley Madison hacking scandal in July of 2015 revealed he had been a regular user of the site Ashley Madison is a dating website launched in 2001 and marketed to people who are married or in relationships and looking to have an affair the website's slogan is life is short have an affair and indeed Josh decided to when he made his profile username Josh underscore the underscore man and described himself as an attached male seeking female on his profile he listed his desires as conventional sex experimenting with sex toys and one-night stands he listed travel and photography as personal interests and said he was turned on by professional confident women who dislike routine and have a secret love nest between 2013 and 2015 he spent more than two thousand dollars carrying out various Affairs while he was married interest response to the revelations Josh made a public apology making sure not to reference Ashley Madison by name and stated quote I have been the biggest hypocrite ever while espousing Faith and family values I have secretly over the last several years been viewing pornography on the internet and this became a secret addiction and I became unfaithful to my wife end quote strangely the statement was later edited to remove the reference to pornography the reason for this change remained unclear until 2021 but more on that soon it wasn't bad news for all the Duggars however while Jim Bob Michelle and Josh were out of favor with the public many of the children were just starting out on their own marrying and having kids TLC wasn't about to let public sympathy go to waste and so the same year 19 and Counting was canceled they announced a spin-off featuring two of Josh's victims who appeared in that same special Jill and her husband Derek Jessa and her husband Ben and many of the Duggar grandchildren in March of 2016 counting on premiered to rave reviews and went on to screen for 11 seasons and included even more of the Duggar siblings while his siblings were having success Josh Duggar now a disgrace to Family Values everywhere went to work as a used car salesman when he opened his own business in 2017. but he would only have this business a few years because in April of 2021 Josh Duggar was arrested for possessing and receiving CP after disturbing images were found on his work computer the images which were of children ages 18 months to 12 years old were considered some of the most disturbing that investigators had ever seen and Josh had attempted to hide them behind a second operating system he had installed on his computer and using the dark web the Pervert had even labeled one of his CP folders as jailbait Josh was initially released on bail but he was restricted from staying at his own home due to the fact that his six minor children lived there with his wife who had just announced she was pregnant with their seventh child during his trial he denied downloading the images and pointed the finger at a former co-worker whom he claimed was trying to set him up the prosecution disproved this his defense lawyers also tried to bar one of the prosecution's witnesses she was one of Josh's in-person victims not related to him and the defense said she gave her testimony on the basis of clergy privilege arguing that she and her husband were church leaders and the confession about what had transpired came out during prayer and Priestly consolation and guidance but the victim insisted she was not a church Elder and the judge ruled in the prosecution's favor noting that the youngsters who appeared in Josh's Mass collection of CP were roughly the same age as the victims of his Hands-On child essay offenses Jim Bob was subpoenaed by the prosecution to give evidence at Josh's trial but all Jim Bob The Devout man of God that he is insisted on the witness stand that he could barely remember anything about what happened with Josh the prosecution ditched him as a witness and the judge was not happy with his behavior writing in a footnote about Jim Bob quote the core Court rejects this testimony as self-serving contradictory and lacking in credibility end quote Josh Duggar was later found guilty of all charges and in May of 2022 he was sentenced to 12 years in prison once released he will be under parole supervision for 20 years and will be prohibited from having unsupervised contact with minors including his own children he must also attend sex offender treatment and may not access pornography of any kind Josh's wife and parents have repeatedly expressed their support for him throughout his many scandals it was reported that when the disturbing images of children were shown on screen of what her husband looked at she stared down at the floor and continued to share on social media that her husband was innocent of all charges throughout the trial she let Josh see their children regularly although the judge had mandated that Anna had to be present any time Josh was near their children Anna even wrote a letter to the judge in defense of Josh stating quote he is a kind loving supportive and caring father and husband his primary focus in life I ask that you consider reuniting us as a family again soon A source told the media that Anna is considering moving to Texas where Josh is imprisoned so that she and their kids can be closer to him many online have angrily called Anna Duggar brainwashed in 2023 further claims about the toxic nature of the family's strict rules came to light Ginger Duggar who was the sixth child was interviewed for an article in People magazine she shared her perspective on what it was like growing up in the Duggar home fear was a huge part of my childhood I thought I had to wear only skirts and dresses to please God music with drums places I went to or the wrong friendships could all bring harm she went on to State the teaching I grew up under was harmful it was damaging and there are lasting effects while Ginger Duggar doesn't raise her children following the iblp principles she was raised on the mega church she attends has been criticized for similarly controlling beliefs women who attended Grace Community Church a mega church in Sun Valley California were allegedly told to stay with their abusive husbands and submit to their every want the wives were told that to do otherwise would mean they would be disciplined for their disobedience one particularly concerning case from the church reported by Christianity Today happened in 2022 when the elders publicly disciplined a woman for refusing to take back her husband after she reported he had been unfaithful had violent outbursts and that she believed he was grooming children yet the pastors encouraged her to not report him to authorities or file a restraining order against him they read scriptures on forgiveness trust love and submission and told her to reconcile and return home even though she feared for her and her children's safety her husband was later found guilty of essay against children but the church never retracted its discipline nor apologized to the woman Jill Duggar later backed up Ginger's perspective on the controlling nature of her childhood when she stated that she and her husband had decided to part ways with Jim Bob and Michelle she said that their strict and controlling Behavior limited her ability to live life on her own terms saying quote our control to choose what jobs we were allowed to accept and even where we were allowed to live was taken away from us the first few years of our marriage we spent time and money working towards opportunities only to hit a dead end when we'd be told well you're not allowed to do that end quote Jill added that she takes birth control wears jeans and drinks alcohol all of which were strictly forbidden during her childhood her husband Derek went on to say that they were cut off by Michelle and Jim Bob when they demanded a fair cut of the income they had received during the filming of the show Jill and Derek only received a payout when they quit filming and got a lawyer involved though they claimed the amount they received will was little more than minimum wage however it was later revealed that the real reason Derek was axed from the spin-off show was due to his posting a transphobic Grant aimed at jazz Jennings a trans activist and icon and one of the youngest publicly documented people to be identified as transgender as for Jim Bob and Michelle seven children remain at home with their parents as well as a child from their extended family that Jim Bob and Michelle adopted the older Duggar children have mostly Married with Children of their own or are officially courting which Michelle and Jim Bob announced on their family website they have not posted on Instagram since May 2022 just before Josh was arrested on CP charges in 2020 the Duggars sold the Arkansas family home which had been paid for by the Discovery Channel for 1.5 million dollars it's believed that Jim Bob and Michelle made a total of more than 18 million dollars from the original show various spin-offs and brand deals this has been the many scandals of the Duggars TV's wholesome Christian family [Music] thank you if you are a fan of learning about scams Cults and cautionary tales subscribe to the channel and turn on notifications so you'll be notified when a new documentary comes out my name is Josie and thank you so much for watching [Music] thank you [Music] foreign [Music]

Channel: NOT THE GOOD GIRL

Views: 1,169,641

Keywords: the duggars, 19 kids and counting, counting on, jim bob duggar, michelle duggar, josh duggar, anna duggar, jessa duggar, jill duggar, jinger duggar, derek dillard, jill dillard, TLC, Discovery network, discovery channel, jon & kate plus 8, kate goss, kate gosselin, iblp, bill gothard, shiny happy people, cult, documentary, ati, institute of basic life principles, christian

Id: sUyEuwCUKhw

Length: 60min 2sec (3602 seconds)

Published: Sun Jun 25 2023