Joy-Anna Duggar Forsyth didn’t always want to abide by the Duggar way of life and religion!
In a clip of the Counting On finale (obtained by Us Weekly) Joy is shown crying during her brother Joseph Duggar‘s wedding rehearsal dinner as she remembers a time back when she was a teenager that she wanted out of her parents’ ultra-conservative religion. She credited Joe with helping her find her way back to the religion (not to mention courting and being “joyfully available” and whatnot).
“I can’t speak and cry. It’s terrible. First of all I want to say that Joe, I’m so thankful for you,” Joy says during a speech made the night before Joe married Kendra Caldwell. “You really did change my life.
“Just through my teen years, I think I was having a hard time taking my parents’ faith as my own and you really befriended me as an older brother, and [were] the first in the morning to say ‘I love you’ and ‘What are you going to do today?’ and stuff like that. It just really meant a lot to me.”
Joy’s husband Austin Forsyth also credited Joe for helping him and other young men to get back in touch with their religion, stating that Joe encouraged them to always read their Bibles.
This marks one of the first times a Duggar offspring has admitted to struggling to accept the religion their family abides by. Fans of 19 Kids and Counting had long predicted that Joy– a tomboy who seemed to have no interest in being a wife and mother– would be the Duggar daughter to “get away” from the cycle of constantly birthing babies. However, Joy eventually did fall in to place, and recently gave birth to her first child at the age of 20.
Watch the clip below:
To read our ‘Counting On’ recaps, click here!
(Photo: TLC)
30 Responses
I think Joy mentioning that Joe was ‘the first in the morning to say he loved her and asked how she was, or what she was doing that day’, speaks volumes to how lonely these children really feel. Could you imagine just existing because your parents only wanted to ‘be fruitful and multiply’ because it is what their religion demands, rather than genuinely wanting a child or want to be actively involved in his/her life? I’m from a family with 6 kids. All of whom were planned (with the exception of myself, I’m the oldest and my mother was 19 when she had me). Did I occasionally feel like I wasn’t getting the attention I wanted? Absolutely. But did my parents ever for one second make me feel like I was just part of a set? No. Not at all. My parents were there for literally everything. They made me feel loved. It was 100% difficult to make sure you were active in the lives of six children. It is IMPOSSIBLE to even spend at least an hour per day on each and every child for 19 kids. Jim Bob and Michelle didn’t take their children’s feelings into consideration when they decided that they were just going to start pumping them out. Honestly, I’m surprised these kids didn’t develop personality disorders from lack of attention.
What I find most upsetting about this whole situation is that both Rim Job and Michelle got to lead normal childhoods and lives before all this madness. Michelle was a cheerleader, wore pants and short skirts, had a first kiss that wasn’t with her husband, dated, went to school, had friends, used birth control etc. They have deprived their children of all of these life experiences and the life skills that go along with it. Now, their young, barely educated daughters have babies and absolutely no skills to survive on their own, no experiences to draw from, and are dangerously naive. And most of the girls were molested as children to boot. The disservice Jim Bob and Michelle have done to their children is tragic.
i think she’s probably bisexual or gay and that was the root of her turmoil with her families faith. JUST A GUESS.
Bible thumpers are the worst kind of people. My mother in law is one. She’s so obsessed with her cult. We don’t participate in organized religion, twice this year she’s brought us religious books to read in hopes of turning us. Both times we have politely declined. The last time was 6 months ago and we haven’t seen her since. She’s retired and lives 15 minutes away and she hasn’t seen my kids in 6 months because we won’t read her Jesus books. I hate people that claim to be Christians.
You’re entitled to your feelings, but just understand that not all of us force our beliefs on other people. Doing that is not right. Your mother-in-law should know better.
I think the term “bible thumper” implies someone who specifically does try to force their beliefs on others. It’s not necessarily meant to mean all Christians, just the super conservative, jusgemental, evangelical ones who try to forcibly convert those they come into contact with.
Then you’re not a bible thumper. I’m a believer myself, I’m not talking about people that have their faith and live their life. I’m talking about the ones that shove it down your throat and hypocrites that scream; I’m a good Christian lady, while being anything but Christian. The real Christians just do, the claimers spend all their time worrying/judging/demanding what others are doing. My mother in law just sucks in general. Being a bible thumper is one of many things i dislike about her.
Right on Amy
That’s why she specified “bible thumper”. Just because a negative comment has the word Christian in it is not your idea to start wailingNOT AAAAAAALLLL CHRISTIANS!
that was specified in the first five words of the comment. Stop thinking rverything is about you, it’s tiring.
I actually deleted my facebook account because my step-dad’s family is very christian/conservative, and can share all of the “Praise be to God” posts they want, but as soon as I post something having to do with my own beliefs, not even on their posts, but on my on wall, they all freak out and tell me how embarrassing I am. (I’m not religious, but I also don’t bash organized religion unless my own beliefs are attacked) Anyway, those are the types of people I can’t stand. The ones who argue that Christianity belongs everywhere because there is supposed to be freedom of religion, but bash and belittle anyone who doesn’t share their beliefs, even when nobody is opposing or attacking them for theirs. Personally, I think religion is like a penis. It’s perfectly fine to have one, but whipping it out and waving it around in other peoples faces its completely uncalled for and rude.
Great analogy! ITA
Am I the only one that thinks Austin is a hottie? I’ve seen other posts where people say he is creepy but I think he’s the cutest of the husbands.
He’s kinda cute until he opens his mouth.
Unfortunately that’s how they control their kids even into adulthood. They shelter them and give them no life skills outside of being a dutiful, submissive wife. They can’t break away since they are put in this bubble since birth. She drifting away from their views is probably why they married her off so young. She acts all lovely dovey with her husband but I think a lot of it is puppy love. Teenagers go through puberty and get completely normal feelings but they are only allowed to suppress them. They are not allowed to even look at the opposite sex. So a 19 year old being allowed to even look at a member of the opposite sex. Of course she is head over heels for him because for the first time she is allowed to have any feelings.
On a positive note, Joy seems very in love with Austin and vice versa. She is very clingy but definitely happy in love. With her having such big babies, I hope they understand she can only have so many csections before her uterus rips and causes grave consequences.God can not help her then. Im glad Joe is a good brother to her and shows her what a mentally healthy brother acts like. It makes me so sad that their traumatic molestation was so easily swept under the rug but not until after the victims were told it was their fault.
This is SO sad. At least Jinger got away. I’m a Christian, but my parents kind of understood that kids are going to want to figure out their own religious beliefs. The Duggars don’t realize that when you force the issue, you may get results that you don’t want.
Thinking 4 yourself bad…?
So instead of letting her embrace her individuality, she was made to think like a robot. I think part of her losing faith was also the fact her older brother fondled her when she was only 5 while reading stories to her! And what did her parents do?! NOTHING! They protected her molester brother instead of her because women are worth less in their cult.
As someone who was/is still pretty tomboyish and proud of it, I am mad they convinced her her only role in life is to me a homemaker and a mother. Which would have been fine if she made the choice WILLINGLY! But she didn’t because well………….again, she was brainwashed to think of it as the only option. I am completely sure Jana is the only “rebel” here because she actually doesn’t want to be just that and makes so much stuff around the house to prove even to her future husband (cuz she sadly still needs to get one to leave that hole) that she won’t only make food and babies (literally).
Great post. This family wants obedient servants. Any individuality is forced out, one way or another.
Even if Jana does eventually get married, her most fertile years will be behind her. I see that as a huge plus.
Why would anyone down-vote this? You are 100% correct. These girls never got a chance to develop their own identities and no one ever advocated for their happiness and safety.
Idk how well it would help…but I wish someone would drill into these kids that they can be religious without their parents church. There are tons of churches out there…they can still study the same bible. It would just be a little more relaxed with the more unpleasant parts of her parents group. No one telling her to have sex with someone whether she wants to or not…they won’t tell her to pop out literally as many kids as possible. Maybe between her and her husband they can find a nice balance that makes them happy. Like Jinger seems to be doing.
Telling them they’re free to have no religion all wld just convince them you’re devil spawn so I think this could be some middle ground 🙂
That’s what I was trying to say in my post.
This is sweet. It is a little sister expressing how her older brother loved her and mentored her.
This also makes me sad. Sad in the way that they don’t get to experience their late teens years and early 20’s as an individual. They have been home schooled and have never experienced going to a regular school. They only interact with the other children from their religion. NONE of them have gone to college. With medical advances, people are living well into their 90’s! I feel all of them have missed out on so much in their early years. They all say they want as many children as God wants them to have. But once the reality TV income eventually goes away, HOW are they going to support these children? Isn’t Derrick already complaining about losing his income from the show? Plus Josh and Anna! I feel so sorry for Anna. She had a chance to get away, but chose to stay with him and have a 5th child! I only hope that Jana can get out on her own. Oh well. Not my life. On the show they all appear to be SO happy, but we don’t know what goes on behind closed doors.
These poor children have been absolutely brainwashed. The girls are lead to believe all their worth is tied to marriage and children.
They’re all still young, I’m curious in even 5 years how these marriages hold up since your 20s are such a period of rapid change. The sad part is there are now so many babies involved in this disaster.
I feel bad for them all. That they are made to feel like they will be bad people if they don’t follow their parents lifestyle is just appalling.
You spelt cult wrong.
And you spelled ‘spelled’ wrong.
Don’t try to shame others when they are in fact grammatically correct:
spelt
BRITISH
past and past participle of spell.
This is so sad. Maybe this is why they marry her off so young, before she changed her mind. I hope Joy and Austin can find a way out together.