Jessa Duggar Seewald came out swinging in defense of her mother, Michelle Duggar, after several fans criticized the Duggar Family matriarch online.
The former Counting On star honored Michelle in a Mother’s Day post on Sunday, writing on Facebook and Instagram that she is thankful to have “beautiful examples of motherhood” from Michelle, as well as her mother-in-law Guinn Seewald.
While many fans in the comment section praised Michelle for her mothering skills, others were critical, posting their thoughts on the ways Michelle failed as a mom to Jessa and the rest of her 18 kids.
“Didn’t your mom harbor a child molester?” one person wrote. “Not exactly a shining example.”
(The commenter is obviously referring to Jessa’s oldest brother, Josh Duggar, who is currently in prison for possessing child sex abuse materials. He also previously admitted to molesting five young girls— four of whom were his sisters— when he was a teen.)
“[Michelle] was a baby machine, not a mother,” another person commented.
While Jessa didn’t respond to all of the comments criticizing Michelle, she did take the time to respond to one comment to defend her mom.
“Your mother was a terrible example [of motherhood],” one person wrote.
“I beg to differ,” Jessa responded. “She is the godliest woman I know. I’ve never met a more patient, gentle or genuinely loving human being.”
Jessa also stated that she hopes to be as good of a mom to her own five children as Michelle was.
“I love her more than any other woman I know and I only hope I can be half the mother to my own kids as she was to me,” Jessa wrote.
While Jessa hopes to be like Michelle, she is not following all of Michelle’s methods for raising a large number of children.
View this post on Instagram
“Do you have family buddies like y’all had growing up?” one person asked in the comment section of a post made to Instagram by Jessa on Wednesday.
As 19 Kids & Counting fans know, the oldest four Duggar daughters– Jessa, Jill, Jana and Jinger— were assigned “buddies” when they were kids. The older girls were responsible for taking care of their younger siblings. They were in charge of helping two to three younger “buddies” with their grooming, schoolwork, feeding and more. Jill recently stated that she got her first “buddy” to take care of when she was about six.)
Jessa has apparently bucked the “buddy system” in her own family but still spoke fondly off it.
“No we do not [do the buddy system],” Jessa replied to the Instagram comment. “But I loved having little buddies!”
The post– which showed Jessa’s older daughter Ivy holding Jessa’s infant son George— received a lot of criticism, with many stating that Jessa was starting to push parenting duties onto her daughter, just as Michelle did to her daughters.
Jessa, however, denied this is true.
View this post on Instagram
“Did you have any little siblings and if so, did you ever want to hold them? George’s siblings are not his mom and I don’t give them any mothering responsibilities that are rightfully mine,” Jessa responded.
Jessa’s Mother’s Day post to Michelle wasn’t the only one that received critical comments aimed at Michelle. In the comment section of Jana Duggar‘s post wishing Michelle a happy Mother’s Day, the comment section got downright brutal, with some people calling out Michelle for allowing Jana (and her other girls) to basically raise their younger siblings.
Others took aim at the Duggar matriarch for defending and covering up Josh’s horrible actions against his sisters.
View this post on Instagram
“Didn’t [Michelle] try to cover up sex abuse?” one person wrote.
“I’m sorry Jana that your entire life has been focused on raising your parents’ children. It’s not fair, it’s not right…. You should have been able to have the life you wanted to have,” another person wrote.
“Happy Mother’s Day to you, Jana, for raising your siblings. Happy Incubator Day to Michelle,” someone else commented.
“How can she even show her face?” someone else wrote about Michelle. “She covered up what her son did to her daughters, she’s a monster, IMO.”
Michelle did not respond to any of the comments on either Jessa’s or Jana’s posts.
RELATED STORY: Joy Forsyth Says Reading Sisters Jill Dillard & Jinger Vuolo’s Books “Did Rock My World”; Declines to Give a “Duggar Family Update”
(Photos: TLC; Instagram)
10 Responses
She harbored a pervert
Jessa will ALWAYS defend her mother, she’s the one (next to her married brothers) who is drinking Kool-Aid the most. I expect her to end up, if not with 19 kids, then not that far behind cuz she believes in everything she was taught. (Jana we don’t know cuz she hasn’t found a partner yet-unfortunately her only way to escape the family)
I think a lot of the ire is focused on the wrong person. Is Michelle totally blameless, no, but Jim is clearly the leader of the cult. I think Michelle is also a victim. I appreciate her daughters defending her, but what they really need to do is help her escape Jim.
Wait until Father’s Dad haha
It probably comes down to that “I can say something bad about (fill in the blank) but you cannot” type of situation. We all do this to some degree. But yes, Michelle was awful and not a good mother. Once she had enough girls old enough (and old enough started around 6yrs old) to be “buddies” she basically washed her hands of her mothering duties because she was too busy making more kids with that nasty excuse of a husband/father. Notice it was only the girls who had to raise their siblings, do laundry, cook, etc…so though Michelle is a woman, she is also a misogynist. Those girls were taught from a very early age that their place was to be brood mares and make their man happy and that is it. Not to dream and find any other joys in life and that is just so sad. They never stood a chance. Michelle is a horrible excuse for a woman and a mother.
Jessa needs to read the room – everyone has seen and heard (from the source itself) what a useless excuse for a mother Michelle is. By continuing to post this saccharin garbage, she is only making those voices get louder. She insults mothers everywhere when she sings the praises of that despicable woman!
I would never want to be a mother like her. Jessa should see that. Her mother did not protect her or her other children from a predator. Who knows how many other predators were allowed around them.
Good point about Josh.
She wasn’t a mother at all. Her older children raised her younger children and quite honestly they weren’t great at it because they were children! And yes, she condoned her son being a child molester. I’m sure she told her daughters that it was their fault because their skirt might be one inch below the knee when it was supposed to be two inches below the knee so they tempted Josh. That’s what these people do. It’s disgusting and it makes me sad that they are raising their children in the same fashion. I feel like they were raised to believe that a woman’s worth is how many babies they pop out. Or if they were “Godly” women holding a dinner plate for the hubby every night at the door.
Of course Jessa will defend her mother but she didn’t raise most of her kids, she just gave birth to them and handed them to their siblings but it’s hard to hear that your mom is awful