As we reported on Thursday, Joseph Duggar has been arrested on child molestation charges.
The move comes after his alleged victim, now 14, told police about abuse she endured during a 2020 vacation to Florida when she was just nine years old.
Only time will tell if Joseph will receive a long prison sentence like his brother Josh Duggar, but already, fans are speculating about the future of his marriage.
The Duggars are fundamentalist evangelicals, and divorce is strictly forbidden in their world — but there’s reason to believe that Kendra might have reached her breaking point.
Joseph and Kendra’s mysterious marriage
Joseph married Kendra Caldwell in 2017, and the couple has since welcomed three children.
Very little is known about the state of their marriage, as they both stopped posting on social media several years ago — right around the time that Josh Duggar was convicted on charges of possessing and distributing child sexual abuse materials.
Joseph’s final post in 2021 was a tribute to his daughter Addison on her birthday.
“Happy Birthday sweet girl!!! We love seeing this girl’s sweet little personality blossom over the last two years! Looking forward to making many more memories,” he wrote at the time.
Joseph and Kendra’s last collective post was in celebration of their fourth wedding anniversary.
“Finally posting pics from our anniversary trip. We so enjoyed seeing [stage show] Jesus at Sight and Sound in and doing SDC [Silver Dollar City theme park]. We had a blast,” the couple wrote.
After that, Joe and Kendra went radio silent.
Will Kendra divorce Joe if he goes to prison?
Josh Duggar has been locked up for over four years now, and he’s not scheduled for release until 2032.
His wife Anna has stood by his side, visiting regularly and defending him in her few public comments since his arrest.
Will Kendra be as faithful? Many Duggar watchers don’t think so.
For one thing, there have been uncorroborated rumors that the two were living separately — Joe having allegedly moved back in with his parents — at the time of the arrest.
Additionally, Kendra is widely considered to be among the most savvy and independent of the Duggar wives.
“I feel like her parents and Kendra herself have far more sense then Anna and her parents when it comes to this kind of criminal behaviour, and I also have a feeling that Kendra’s dad would be more demanding and adamant to get Kendra and his grandkids out of the Duggars eyesight,” wrote one Reddit user, adding:
“Personally, this could be the first divorce I reckon.”
“Agree. I wonder if this was what the falling out was between Kendra‘s dad and JB,” another wrote, referring to the rumored tension between Kendra’s dad and Jim Bob Duggar.
“This is not Kendra‘s fault and good council would be to leave Joe and remove her children from the presence of any of the Duggars. Forever.”
“She has to live with the fact that her husband, and father of her children, is attracted to a 9 year old. Kendra has to be wheeling over this,” a third chimed in.
There was a time when a Duggar divorce was unimaginable — but Kendra might be the first to break the chains.