Over the past few years, Jana Duggar has watched as many of her younger siblings entered courtships, got engaged and eventually walked down the aisle. Now that her 19-year-old sister Joy-Anna is engaged, Jana is the only adult female left in the family who is still single.
In the past, Jana has been relatively silent about her situation, simply stating that she’s following God’s plan for her, but in a new interview, the Counting On star gets surprisingly candid about being single in a family where getting married and having kids is Priority No. 1.
“I know how it feels to wait for ‘Prince Charming’ to come along. I’m still waiting,” Jana said in an interview for the latest issue of Christian magazine Crown of Beauty.
Jana, 27, has watched her younger sisters Jill, Jessa and Jinger all get married and start their lives with their new husbands. She admitted during the interview that she sometimes feels left out when her sisters go on triple dates with their beaus, leaving her at home.
“Waiting is not always easy,” Jana told the magazine. “Especially in those times when all the married siblings are getting together and you can’t go along because your not part of ‘that’ group.”
Jana, who still lives at home with her parents, said that she makes herself feel better by doing chores and helping her family.
“Waiting doesn’t mean sitting and literally waiting,” she said. “No, we need to be busy with where God has us and being content and joyfully serving Jesus there. My parents have always encouraged each of us to serve those around us… I’ve found that when I’m having a hard or discouraging day, I try to look for ways to bless or serve someone else. And in turn it usually blesses and encourages me!”
Jana’s sister, Jill, is currently living in Central America with her husband and son, doing mission work, but Jana says she, too, is serving others, even if it’s just by cleaning or taking care of her siblings.
“To encourage those of you still at home: Ministry is all around you, doing the basics such as helping with housework, babysitting littles, cleaning, that is ministry!” she advised. “‘Divine service done here three times a day’ is a sign that could be hung over the dish sink in our home! So, you don’t have to go on a mission trip to do ‘ministry.’ Wherever God has you now, just be faithful to reach out, encourage and serve those around you.”
Jana is usually reluctant to discuss marriage. (Who can blame her though? She’s been peppered with questions regarding when she’ll get hitched for a good part of a decade!) Last year, she did discuss the topic a bit during an interview for ‘Counting On.’ When she was asked by a producer where she sees herself in five years, Jana got visibly uncomfortable but eventually answered the question.
“That’s a hard one,” she said. “I don’t really know what the next five years will look like. I guess in some ways you have hopes and dreams. Maybe I’ll meet the one and get married and have kids and stuff.”
She revealed that she has had suitors who have shown interest in her romantically but that she plans to be very selective when choosing her husband.
“There have been different guys come along and ask but they haven’t been, I don’t know, the right one,” Jana said. “I’m not just out to get married to the first one that comes along. I mean, sometimes it can be tempting. It’s like, ‘Oh, I really want to be married!’
She also revealed what it’s like to be one of the only adult Duggar kids left at home. (Just think: when Joy gets married and leaves home, Jana will be all alone in what was once the bedroom she shared with all of her sisters.)
“[I’m in] this weird in between stage,” she said in 2016. “I’m not a younger one, but I’m not an older married one with kids. [I’m] just being busy with where God has me right now and being content in this place and learning as much as I can and go on and live life.”
You can read Jana’s full interview (as well as interviews with Jill, Jessa, Jinger and Joy) in the upcoming issue of Crown of Beauty.
(Photos: TLC)
28 Responses
Jana’s sweetness really shines through in everything she says. 🙂
Dim Bulb! Hahaha, best name for JB ever!
I always wonder if she simply is trying to count down her biological clock so that she has much less time to make babies. If she gives herself another 5 years of singleness, her fertility will drop by 25-50% and continue to decline each year after that. I think it’s her way of controlling the number of babies she has to pop out.
Didn’t we recently talk about ‘statistically, at least one of the Duggar kids should be gay’ here? And the options that person would have?
Deny it, gay cure camp or leave the family.
I’m not sure of course but I have thought that she could be gay for years and not just because she is still single.
When she would be, I feel deeply for her. God has no issues with LGBTIQ people, he made them that way.
It was Jill, Jessa, Jinger and Joy. The 5th victim was a family friend that has never been named.
Isn’t she one of the girls that got molested by Josh? Maybe that fuked her up more than we think and/or the family lets on and/or she realizes herself.
I’d be weary of men, too. Especially from that cult/religion
No, I’m pretty sure she wasn’t one of the sisters who was…I think it was the four after her…so Jill, Jessa, Jinger or so?
Hmmm. I thought Jill & Jessa were the only ones that confirmed it. Then it is speculated Joyana was the third because her age appropriately places her. The fourth sister was not named…idk…
No. Interestingly enough all of Josh’s sister victims are the married/engaged ones.
I’m not buying this. It would sound inspirational if someone with a real life experience would said it but we all know her parents dictate her what to say and she can’t have one genuine thought. We are basically the same age (she’s 2 months younger) but I experienced a lot of things which made me stronger while she is sheltered for all her life. It makes me glad that despite being born in a religious family, they never forced me to think a certain way and I’m basically liberal despite being born a Catholic. I just wish one day Jana would wake up and escape because she does seem the smartest out of all her siblings and maybe deep down even knows all of this is a bunch of bs. FREE JANA!
I am glad that she has decided to not simply go for the first bozo to show interest in her. However, I have to wonder if she even realizes that the answer she keeps giving people, about being content in the place God has put her, is actually simply a phrase that the Gothard teachings insist is instilled to all girls from birth on up. At some point, I would venture a guess that it’s more of an involuntary response that is simply stuck in their heads because it has been drilled into them since the day they were born. According to their cult, and Gothard teachings, ALL women are to *always* be content with where the Lord has put them, regardless of where they are in life, regardless of what is being done, or said, to them…they are to be content, period, no questions asked, no complaints.
It’s actually quite sickening, and to see Jana, repeatedly, state the same lines over and over again just reiterates how terribly brainwashed children that grow up in these cults truly are. It makes me tremendously sad for them, to be honest. Males are not taught the same thing, only females. I hope, deep down, she realizes just how awful those teachings are. She has a good head on her shoulders, unlike many of the others that have been brought up on those same teachings(and not just this family..but ALL of them)
Jim Bob is holding off on getting Jana married off b/c her wedding will attract major money and publicity.
Her siblings dont invite her out because she isn’t married? They are serious assholes.
They may be keeping her captive or she might be smarter than her sisters by not marrying the first person that shows interest; her sisters have picked some real winners
“Winners” or not, her sisters love their spouses, and it shows.
She doesn’t get the room to herself she shares it with the four littlest girls.
Is Anna still crashing there too?
Thank you Sarah I was thinking the same thing. What about the youngest girls…
It’s not so much that she needs to get married and pop out babies but she is not even allowed to get a job, her own place and go places BY HER SELF! She must still be under the rule and supervision of a man (her father). If she could live and do as she pleases that would be one thing but she will unfortunately never have any true freedom until she gets married. Their parents should trust that they have raised their children in the right way and instilled in them goodness so that they shouldn’t feel the need to be in control of their every word and deed.
You are so right. I feel like she is worth only as the maid and nanny. She is not considered as an independent woman and that pisses me off. I hope that she is the one to brake the cycle.
Maybe she’s just waited all this time to have her room to herself!
It will be a while since she still has to share it with Josie, Jordan, Jenny, and Johanna…
I like Jana! I bet it’s hard to be as legit as she is when her family is so crazy.
Ain’t THAT the truth!!
Why do people keep asking this girl about marriage and all that? I’ll admit at first I wondered why she wasn’t marrying off like her sisters, but now it’s kind of old news. Plus let’s not forget, John David is her TWIN brother, their the same age exactly, & hes not married or courting. He’s lucky though because he was allowed to move out and live on his own. No one hassles him about not being married yet. Maybe her and her twin bro were close enough in age to JOSH understand what a hot mess he was & they’re old enough to see how their married siblings may be tied to life with doofuses. Maybe instead of pushing her and making her feel like not being married is wrong, people should be commending her for possibly being the one to break the Duggar mold. If nothing else, bug both twins or leave them alone. It’s not a crime to be 27 and not married.
JD doesn’t live at the Duggar house anymore?! I didn’t know they were allowed to move out when unmarried, even the boys!
Why do I think Dim Bulb and MEchelle told Jana what to say?
I hope she will be happy, regardless of whether she gets married or not. Doing all the shit work would wear on me, personally. Maybe, just maybe, she doesn’t want to punch a kid out every year for 20 years, and this is her way of saying no to all that?
No one is buying that Jana. We all know the real reason. You’re kept captive. Cleaning the house, taking care of kids, as you do. You haven’t had any gentlemen suitors because good ole jim Bob ran em off. Can’t get rid of the free help, being Jana. Next time she gets interviewed, they need to set up a code of sorts. “If you want to be freed, blink your eyes 3 times.”