Josh Duggar is a predator and a disgraced criminal.
He is currently rotting in prison where he belongs.
But Josh’s scandals have plagued his family for over a decade, now — beginning long before his arrest and trial.
Jinger and her husband are thinking back to that first big scandal. Her whole family went into hiding.
It was supposed to be an episode about courtship
During the final Jinger & Jeremy podcast episode of January, the eponymous hosts delved into dating. Or, you know, their version of it.
Much of what they discussed concerned ideas about dating as evangelical Christians.
They even discussed unrealistic standards — looks, wealth, and specific biblical verses describing personal and marital purity.
However, Jing and Jer also touched upon the less-than-ideal circumstances of their first meeting.
“When I met you, your family was literally in hiding,” Jeremy recalled.
He was exaggerating — but only slightly.
“Like, I met you and then it was, like, three or four months later,” Jeremy described.
“I go out and visit Ben [Seewald] and Jessa [Duggar],” he continued, “and everything broke.”
Jeremy specified that he was referring to “the news of the first scandal.”
He then reiterated: “And your family’s literally in hiding.”
This low point in her family’s life didn’t drive him away
“I had a relationship with you through those months,” Jeremy affirmed.
“And,” he narrated to his wife, “I’m watching how you were responding to your life crumble on international headlines.”
To him, however, this wasn’t a whole bouquet of red flags to scare him off from the Duggar family.
Instead, he saw this as Jinger and her loved ones practicing what they preach. (Which is certainly one interpretation)
“And I was going, ‘OK, this isn’t theory. This is actually real life that her faith is in practice,'” Jeremy described.
Jinger, too, recalled that time in their early courtship when her future husband was her shelter in the storm.
“I was glad that you were able to be around at that time,” she expressed.
Jinger explained that she felt that way “because I think you saw our family in a place that a lot of people weren’t able to have a front row seat to.”
She added: “And I was thankful for that.”
If your partner has already gone through the hard times with you before things get serious, then you know how they’ll respond in a crisis. A fair weather friend is bad enough — but a fair weather partner is worse.
We’ve heard of weirder meet-cutes, right?
That was very informative for a podcast that was ostensibly a pre-Valentine’s Day post about evangelical quasi-dating.
And, in case you’re wondering about the timeline, Jinger and Jeremy are talking about her disgraced brother’s first scandal.
In 2015, the Ashley Madison leak revealed that Josh was cheating on his wife. The world soon learned of Josh’s history of sexual predation — molesting five young girls as a teenager, including four of his own sisters.
That turned out to only be a preamble for his eventual arrest and current incarceration.
But, somehow, it helped Jinger and Jeremy realize that they were a good fit for each other.