Two rarely-heard-from members of the Duggar family are speaking out on the recent scandals involving their older brother Josh in 2015. John-David and Joseph Duggar gave rare interviews regarding their disgraced brother, declaring their shock over what their big brother was caught doing in 2015.
(In case you were living under a rock this year, it was discovered in May that Josh had molested four of his sisters and another young girl while in his teens. In August, it was revealed that Josh had been cheating on his wife, Anna.)
Hearing from John-David and Joseph is a rare treat, as the Duggar kids without courtships/husbands/babies are rarely allowed camera time. Both John-David and Joseph tend to keep to themselves and weren’t often in the spotlight on the family’s reality show 19 Kids and Counting. It turns out, however, that they actually have a lot to say.
“I don’t think there’s any way any of us would have known that my brother was living such a secret life,” 20-year-old Joseph says, obviously referring to the his older brother’s cheating scandal. “It broke my heart. Whenever somebody you respect the most is willing to get up and proclaim what we believe as Christians, about being true to your wife, you’d never think that that’s the person who’s involved in it.”
John-David, who at 25 is only two years younger than Josh, stated that he had always looked up to his big brother before the scandals broke.
“After everything started to settle down from the first release of stuff in the news about Josh, we got word of [the cheating scandal] that we had no clue about,” he said. “That was a little more of a shock probably than the first stuff coming out.
“I always wanted to be like him,” John-David added. “But one of the toughest things I ever had to tell my older brother was, ‘I don’t want to be like you anymore.'”
With Josh in a longterm rehab facility, John-David is now acting as the eldest Duggar son.
“It’s a big load. It’s a big weight upon me now,” he said. “I’ve got a whole bunch of younger siblings looking up to me, and I’ve got to be an example to them. Because whatever I am, that’s what they want to be. I know that’s how it was for me and Josh.”
The interview clips are from the upcoming ‘Jill & Jessa: Counting On’ specials, the first of which airs this Sunday. The second and third installments will air on December 20 and December 27, respectively.
Watch the clip featuring John-David and Joseph below:
(Photos: TLC)
8 Responses
John David was the only one of his siblings who was able to string together a coherent sentence that wasn’t full of “um”s and “like”s and “you know”s.
To others that have commented….you are actually pretty stupid. IF you had been paying attention to the commercials for this new special “Counting On” the interview with Jill and Anna was done right in their perverted Dad’s home….right by the steps in the Duggar home, by the steel railed stair case.
These specials are just so that the public will calm down and so that Jim-Bob can get part of the $$ that Jill and Jessa are being paid.
As for Jill, she is just as lame as her parents.When you are a missionary, you don’t have the funds or the time to go jet-setting back home all the time. I can’t believe how many stupid “Fans” donated cash to Jill and Derick.
Jessa…well, there’s a young lady just like her old man…anything for attention. Such as:Naming her kid such a weird name.To be sure, it’s biblical,but did they ( Jessa & Ben) stop to think about what that kid will go thru ?If they liked the name Quincy,why not just name him that ?
This family is all messed up. Getting rid of the Duggars and the Kardashians will be awesome….that is when it happens !
Where did the name Quincy come from? Is it just a name they liked? Online it says the baby’s name is Spurgeon Elliot, but nicknamed Quincy. I don’t get it.
I think these older kids may be starting to think for themselves a bit. Maybe starting to question the way they were raised, and the way they have been controlled, even after reaching adulthood. I hope they will someday be able to find a life for themselves. It will be interesting to see what happens in the next couple of years.
So many thoughts… 1) I was surprised at how sincere this seemed. I’ve seen the girls teary eyed interviews and while aspects are sad, it’s missing…something. This seemed like the real deal and was full of raw emotion. Maybe it seemed like less of a fed soundbite?! IDK. 2) I know they’re in a cult and they’ve been brainwashed with how to think about the molestation scandal since they were young, but the fact that cheating is a bigger deal than touching a 4 year old is weird. I get that it was less shocking since they knew about that, but the fact that nobody in the family is (still) not really commenting on that with any real horrified thoughts is a little off to me. 3) After this video, I feel like these two are the best of bunch so far. That said, I wish the example they could set would be to, um, run the hell away. Just my two (maybe a little more) cents!
My first thought after watching this was, why do they both look like they were just slapped on the left eye
It may be an uneven catch lighting situation. Although I’m not totally sure if that’s it. It’s probably the way the lights are set though…