It isn’t easy to be a Duggar.
Every time that Josh tries to weasel out of his conviction and sentence, he only renews what Jill calls an “awkward” conversation.
Yes, she’s talking about it.
Specifically, Jill is calling Josh’s scandal and trial a “crazy season” of her family’s lives.
Yes, she’s talking about it
On the Wednesday, January 21 episode of The Jinger & Jeremy podcast, Jill Duggar and husband Derick Dillard addressed a rare topic.
“I would say I’m a lot stronger now as a person and an individual,” 34-year-old Jill assessed.
Even so, she admitted that she feels that she has not yet “arrived” fully in life.
However, Jill emphasized that she is “on a path toward growth” despite some major hurdles.
“When you’re young and carefree — not that we’re old — but when you’ve lived life and life throws hard things at you, you can live with hope for the future, but some apprehension,” Jill expressed.
Briefly, Jill then referred to the 2021 trial of her disgraced brother, Josh.
Josh was arrested, tried, convicted, and sentenced for receiving and possessing child sexual abuse material (CSAM).
“We did the whole law school thing together as a family,” Jill characterized.
She referred to that time as “a crazy season for the entire Duggar family, as well.” (Evangelicals and especially fundamentalists sometimes use “season” to refer to a period in their lives)
Jill acknowledged: “That was a very interesting parallel to the career [Derick] ended up jumping into.”
Derick quit his job as an attorney, but he learned a lot at that trial
“On a professional note, it was very informative to go to Josh’s trial,” Derick observed.
Jill admitted that “it’s always awkward to talk about” Josh’s arrest, trial, and the scandal that (finally) ended their family’s reality TV careers.
But Jeremy was quick to chime in, noting that it’s a “real” part of their extended family’s story.
That is true.
Some families have skeletons in their closets that never see the light of day. Some of the evils of the Duggar family are more famous than the family itself.
Any family would struggle with having a relative who commits a crime as heinous as downloading photos and video of young girls being sexually abused.
It is nothing short of evil — and societal condemnation is widespread for this sort of crime.
However, there are added complexities for the Duggar family — particularly for Josh’s sisters. Particularly for his victims.
First, for years, Josh’s sisters were pressured — primarily by their parents — to give Josh forgiveness. In a cult where victim-blaming is baked into theology, men get nearly unlimited second-chances.
And then there were the seemingly sincere beliefs expressed by certain Duggars, from Josh’s wife to at least one of the brothers, that the trial was a conspiracy — political or (literally) demonic.
When you believe that a trial is actually spiritual warfare, you’re not seeing it like the rest of the world sees it
In some cases, they believed that outside forces were attacking their family, rather than simply bringing one predator to justice.
That doesn’t mean that every member of the family was on the same page.
Some knew first-hand just how evil and depraved Josh is — and how deep in denial their parents seemed to be.
So, yes, it would be “always awkward” for Jill to speak about her brother’s disgrace and the media circus that surrounded his trial.
On the bright side, Josh is rotting in prison where he belongs. That doesn’t fix all of the problems in the world — just one.