As many of you have pointed out, a lot of people seem to think that Josh Duggar checked himself into a weird, Christian-only, biblically-based recovery program called Reformers Unanimous in Illinois. I saw on E! News last night that Josh allegedly did fly (via private plane) to Illinois earlier this week, and the Duggars do have a history of supporting Reformers Unanimous. So it makes sense, and it totally fits. Go here to read Gawker’s rundown on RU’s program. It apparently consists of six intensive months of Christian hard labor, hikes and… not a lot of counseling, talk therapy or anything like that.
As for the Duggar family at large, Entertainment Tonight spoke to some members of the Duggar family and they spoke out under the condition of relative anonymity. One family member said: “We are all shocked and broken and furious. Who did we spend Christmases with? Who have we grown up with? Who is this person? This is supposed to be a happy time, and there is a dark cloud over our family.” That sounds like Jessa – “this is supposed to be a happy time” probably refers to the fact that no one is paying attention to her pregnancy. It’s like she got pregnant for no reason!
Anonymous Duggar also said: “Josh’s integrity is gone. It’s scary. You never know who can have a double life. You really think you know someone. Josh was caught with his hand in the cookie jar and I hope he gets broken in rehab and gets the help he needs. I hope Anna finds the strength to make some changes.” The “broken” thing is interesting – while I don’t know all that much about 12-step programs, I feel like “Josh needs to get broken” is specific to the Duggars’ brand of Christianity.
Meanwhile, People Magazine had another depressing story about Anna Duggar. The theme of the story was “why in the world did Anna marry Josh if she had some idea that he was a child molesting pervert?” During those stories, back in May/June, we did find out that Anna was informed of Josh’s child-molesting past. A source now tells People Magazine that:
“Anna did know. Her whole family knew something had happened. It definitely wasn’t portrayed in its entirety. I don’t think she understood the entirety of what had happened. It was kind of something that was swept under the rug and nobody made a big deal out of it.”
Furthermore, the source says Anna wasn’t well equipped to truly comprehend what Josh had done. With her strict religious upbringing, “She was very sheltered with anything that came to physical relations or anything like that. She knew the words ‘rape’ or ‘abuse,’ but I don’t think she really understood what that even meant.”
When it came time to process the information, she looked to her parents. “They still gave their blessing,” says the source. “How she was brought up, if your parents gave their blessing then you pretty much marry the guy and that’s what God’s will is for you and what’s best for your life. So much of her belief was based on what her parents told her and not in the actual truth. She looked to her parents and they were okay with it, so she was okay with it.”
Now, blindsided by Josh’s second sex scandal this year, Anna’s parents are still controlling her choices, says the source. When one of Anna’s siblings reached out to their father about the situation, “His response was, ‘Well, King David had an affair,'” the source says, adding, “I just wish she could be left alone to figure out her own feelings on this matter.”
Anna’s parents sound like absolutely awful people, perhaps even worse than the Duggars. I’ll go the distance and believe that the Duggars didn’t tell the Kellers any kind of in-depth details about Josh’s molestation of five girls (four of them his sisters), but I also believe that it probably wouldn’t have mattered to the Kellers if the Duggars had told them all about Josh. That’s the kind of stuff that needs to be saved for the weekly Fifteen Minute Feelings Discussions, and a conversation about sexual assault, abuse and molestation does not enter into those discussions. See how that works?
Photos courtesy of the Duggars’ social media.
He did not “get his hand caught in the cookie jar”. He is a SEX OFFENDER.
This over and over and over and. . .
BIngo. This phoney rehab (church Bible school camp) is probably less rehab and more a well deserved hard earned break from effing him for that poor poor wife Anna.
If they hadn’t sent his horney filthy goat azz away, this time next year Anna would have 5 kids under 5 before she was 28 yrs old. Heck she might be pregnant now. Ugh. So sad.
These people are seriously bonkers, so they send Josh away for a few months i.e. get him out of the public eye, then bring him back as redeemed having learnt nothing. what saddens me is this guy is going to pull the saved by the lord card, probably get a pay to view audience and make millions as a reformed sinner, poor Anna and her innocent children. Please Anna RUN
This 100%. Josh is a perv and a liar, and his parents/Anna’s parents are enablers. And what is with this statement “…I hope Anna finds the strength to make some changes.” Gross. The first change Anna needs to make, is to take her brother up on his offer to get her and her children far away from Josh and the rest of the brainwashed, quivering zealots. There are plenty of folks who would provide her with the support and guidance she needs to make sure her children are safe.
And I wish people who stop saying he molested five girls. It’s five girls he got caught about. This man has certainly done a lot more than this. It’s a travesty that he’s still not getting the help he needs. But much worse that most of the survivors we know about are still stuck in an abusive system.
These people are pure evil. How funny that they are always looking around for the devil, and the real darkness is inside of them and their twisted “religion’. nothing more than a bunch of insane cultists. I feel so bad for all of the young kids.
“they are always looking around for the devil, and the real darkness is inside of them”
That sums up SO many extremists, so perfectly. Everyone who condemns homosexuality is deflecting to a disturbing degree.
Yep, they just need a good look into the mirror before they start to critize anybody else.
He doesn’t need to go to rehab, he needs to go to jail. And no passing of “go” or collecting $200 either.
I would support him going to REAL rehab with qualified mental health professionals who provide actual therapy. Legally he cannot be sent to jail. As it is the cycle continues and nothing will change.
It makes me sick how people with money get a way with everything!
Maybe they sense that the evil is so close to home but they are unable or unwilling to truly look for it, hence the unending witch hunts. (The devil MUST be out there! I feel it!) It takes a lot of courage to look yourself in the mirror and acknowledge the devil staring back at you. Hiding behind a book, a set of rules, a belief system, anything, is cowardly. No wonder they yell so loudly about righteousness.
Is it like the Quiverfull version of Sea Org…? That’s what he deserves. If he isn’t going to get proper therapy — and let’s face it, there may be no cognitive-behavioral solution; he seems like a sociopath — then have him build a yacht for the porn star he abused.
It doesn’t surprise me that Anna had no way of realizing the depth of his teenage crimes, either. The victims themselves weren’t even capable of framing them as crimes.
I came on here to talk about that same link! This “camp” has the feel of the Scientology forced labor to “cure” suppressive thoughts. Heck, at least the Scientologists have the auditing process where a person is allowed to speak about their feelings, actions, thoughts. Sure, they take that info and blackmail them with it forever, but at least there’s some cathartic process that takes place in the talking. These Quiverful people — there’s no talking about anything. Please note the sarcasm — not defending Scientology …. at all!
I just read that entire application. Did you notice that the men’s schedule has time for each of them to meet with the Dean, but the women’s schedule doesn’t mention that at all? And the women must “clean the buildings”.
How bizarre.
Essentially, yeah. I grew up in and around these types of groups and basically the idea is, should you bring public attention and shame (similar reason why you can see women and girls across the country flinch if the term ‘keep sweet’ is muttered or hissed at them. It’s been well over a decade since I let myself lay even EYES on the worst of my family… and danced a bit of a nervous energy jig when one finally died off but it still knots my stomach to simply ~type~ the words.) there is a whupping of SOME kind headed at great speed towards you. You will shut up, you will put your head down, you will work until someone ~OTHER~ then yourself (and in Josh’s case – his wife or any of his assault victims… like his sisters also have no say) in a position of supposed higher spiritual purity decides you have been broken down far enough, that you are tired enough, hungry enough to essentially reprogram back to the ‘correct’ setting. And from my own experience – yeah. Anything that comes out in a moment of weakness or actual desire for help is gonna bite you RIGHT in the assets should you ever need to be jerked right back into line.
It’s one of the main reasons I’m so utterly blunt. If asked a direct question, my own safety net is to either tell someone to ‘step off, I’m not talking about that to you’ OR the more often quite bald literal even if uncomfortable to me/them/both truth. If I own my past, if I own my mistakes and missteps, if I am right in my own head/heart about either what I did or what I’m doing to learn to NOT do it again, I don’t care about people knowing. If I have no deep dark secrets in the closet to be desperate to hide, no one has any power over me. Makes me both an awkward but entertaining dinner companion! In my case, the shut up and do as your told or we’ll ruin you thing backfired. AND I got out. But in Josh’s case? I’m willing to bet enough gets out and enough gets filed they will own him (and by extension his family, poor souls) lock stock and barrel. If they are REALLY of the twisted sort, there will be signed soul-based ownership papers in fact. (No one ever saw WHY I suddenly got a nasty case of the giggles at the sheer irony of a “christian” group having people sign their souls away. Made worse that day as the preacher was wearing a red suit and sported Dilbert’s boss type hair curl horns. No, I didn’t sign – but loads did in that sunday school church group. Makes a gal wonder at times…) He is screwed. But not nearly as badly as Anna will be if she doesn’t get outta Dodge before he gets back. She stays until he is out… it’s all over.
Oh, Jenna. I have no words, just a big hug for you.
Jenna, thank you for sharing your story. You are one strong person and I’m glad you got out!
JENNA thank you for sharing your story. I am also told I am blunt, and my personal motto is “go with the truth”, whatever it is. I always say my life is an open book, and people don’t like that. Weirdly there are similarities between your upbringing and mine. My mother was a mentally ill alcoholic who “programmed” me to share her warped view of the world. I spent my young life trying to please her, and her peculiar ideas about good behavior. Once I figured out that virtually everything she’d told me was a lie, I just had to start over and rebuild my brain based on truth to the best of my ability. So if that is what you mean, I totally get it, even though I wasn’t raised in a cult.
Jenna, you’re my heroine. I’m not even saying I could handle you as a dinner companion because I think you’re that genuinely and righteously fierce. But I’d damn well try… Until you made me cry 🙂 Seriously, congrats on escaping with the power of your own soul. All the best and more to you.
The only ones I feel really sorry for are the kids.
Not only do they have a father who admitted he was a hypocrite, and then went back on his admission, but a mother who puts faith above reasonable logic.
The only exception to this I would make is that it is not “faith” that she puts above reasonable logic, but the perspective of a brainwashed cult member.
Jesus would weep at this story and what these people attribute to their belief in Him.
When I think of them, (gosh this is going to be so dumb) I think of the movie Paul. Paul the alien enlightens Kristen Wiigs character by touching her head and showing her everything that Paul knows about the universe. I wish there was something like that…(dumb, I know, but that’s how I feel sometimes)
Yes and all the children in this movement are physically abused as well. They actually spank babies. BABIES! What the h*ll is the point of spanking a baby other than to relieve your feelings of aggression on a defenseless infant? The baby can’t learn anything from it. When they are older they get the belt and worse. Course everyone thinks they’re all fine because they are taught from an early age to smile and not show sadness. It’s sick.
Disgusting- really can’t bear these twisted despicable people
” I hope Anna finds the strength to make some changes.” The only change she has to do is pack her bags and children and go far far away from Josh, the Duggars and her parents.
Wouldn’t it be wonderful of true Christians to run a safe house created specifically for indoctrinated victims of extremism like her – and that she would have some way to know of it.
Yes. There is a difference between true Christians (who love people and are open) and this extremist cult under the name of Christians. These people follow bizarre rules and do not lead a Christ-like lifestyle.
If there’s no therapy its not rehab. The whole Christian work camp didn’t help him as a teen either!
Some “rehab”.
So, how, exactly, is he being rehabbed if there are no treatment counsellors? He isn’t. This pervert molested children and should be confined in a prison until adjudicated as no longer a threat
thing is they make him go now because of his cheating not because of the molestation. i still struggle to understand how (in duggar-world) one is so much worse than the other. it just seems so disturbing that he would have gone on with his life after the molestation scandal but now that he fucked a p0rn star he needs rehab. thats some twisted logic right there.
and yeah. it doesnt really deserve to be called rehab.
They aren’t even allowed to talk about past actions!
Like I said two days ago he will be building houses( hard labor)
It says a lot that they are more angry about the cheating than they were about the molestation.
Project! I’m going to try a week on Celebitchy giving whatever one-line responses to headlines that pop into my head.
This one: “Of course it won’t.”
It seems that more and more rich people are using rehab to make their sex offending look like a socially acceptable health problem.
Omg this poor woman I don’t even want to think about what her life is like.
@Kaiser,
Anna’s free-range brother, Dan Keller, used that ‘broken’ language in his facebook tirades against some pro-Duggar loons.
These people are terrifying.
I am a Christian, by my own choice, my family are atheists. I have been around people like the Duggars. I know their logic, the way they think.
This is not biblical at all, this is not what Jesus taught at all. This is a cult.
Agreed Jessiebees. And, as an agnostic, I thank you and other good Christians for speaking up. I neither know nor care if there’s a god, but Jesus’ message, whether he was real or a construct composed of collected wisdom, was generally good and a worthy guide through this life. I’ve always taken offense to the corruption of his message of love, acceptance and courage. Side note: the Gnostic Gospels actually made my heart hurt; lots of lost opportunity.
Just when you think it can’t get worse. These people have failed their children. They haven’t prepared them for the realities and the evilness of the world. It blows my mind that Anna was given only 15 minutes a week to voice any concerns. Really!? It’s horrifying. This is beyond sick. They shelter their kids, giving them no tools what so ever for life, then throw in marriages that are horrific and then walk away. WHY AREN’T THE AUTHORITIES GETTING INVOLVED! !!!
Hard labor and hiking is not going to cure this thing. I have a friend who struggles with overeating. Not horribly horribly, but he’s always 15-20 lbs over his “ideal” weight and he just can’t seem to buckle down and cut back on the fried foods, etc.
Well, a couple of years ago, he decided to hike the Pacific Crest Trail. Of course he wanted to do it anyway, but he was also seriously expecting a side effect of losing a ton of weight and then KEEPING it off when he was done. He did lose the weight (because he was walking 25 miles a day!), but it all came back within a year of finishing the hike. Why? Because he never actually sat down and thought about WHY he overeats (from what I’ve observed, there is a strong stress/emotional component). In my opinion, he would have done far better to spend a few sessions with a therapist figuring out better ways to deal with stress.
Obviously Josh’s problem is a much more serious one and the magnitude is much greater, with far more people impacted in far more damaging ways. But the general principle is the same (I think): you can’t just make these problems go away by making yourself too busy/tired/”broken” to deal with them, unless you’re willing to do that for the rest of your life, which is pretty much never feasible. Josh needs actual counseling and to spend some serious time confronting and understanding the what and why of his actions before he can make any kind of progress on being “healed”. He (and his family) also need to understand that it’s not going to be a six month process. If he is serious about changing, this is something he’s going to have to struggle with for the rest of his life.
The only good thing coming from this 6 months of rehab is that Ana won’t be pregnant again for at least 6 months (though she could be already if she did not follow Mechelle’s 80 day sex restraint after a girl rule) and that Josh will most likely not have a chance to get a (new) sexually transmitted disease to pass on to Ana. Horrible situation. Poor Ana trying to please everyone means she pleased no one. It will never be enough.
And how well did that work out for King David? If you take the Biblical account literally (as I’m sure these fundamentalists do), he lost two sons and had another son rape his own sister (sound familiar?) , there was a curse on his family, and he wasn’t allowed to build the temple.
Yeah, good move there, Dad. King David at least repented and accepted the blame for his actions.
I was going to say, he’s not David, he’s Ammon. Like, he is literally a sister raper.
Anna has her kids about 2 years apart. The two closest in age are the two oldest at 20 months apart. I doubt she’d be pregnant even six months from now, but I’m sure she’ll be relieved not to have to service Josh for a while.
Edit: Not sure what happened here, this was supposed to be in reply to Zimmer.
I am surprised that even annonymously the Duggars were allowed to say that about Josh/that Jim Bob let those statements be released. It makes me wonder if he doesn’t really monitor/approve every little thing that they do-remember he had to go back and revise Josh’s statement several times, he was able to post it before JB read it.
Excuse me, please? Going to rehab in a private plane, and all that while the family is complaining about their monetary losses because Touching Little Children finally decided, after months of inaction, to cancel that vile progam?
Maybe the money for the private plane should have gone to those Duggar missionaries instead who wanted to be funded.
TO: Nanea says – IT’S THEIR OWN FAMILY PLANE! Josh’s brother flew him to IL. to rehab. This family makes me sick! Begging for money….. family plane / plane’s ? motor home’s large house, rental properties, cars everywhere & millions in the bank and still trying to con everyday hard working people out of money. They can go to hell!
He doesn’t need prayer he needs to be psychiatrically assessed as a child predator before he’s allowed near his children. As for Anna it’s time to protect your 4 children and stop listening to your stupid ass father. Grow up your an adult whether you like it or not.
Anna’s stupid folks would have made her go through with the marriage even if Shiny Forehead Duggar had the same tendencies of Jeffrey Dahmer.
Also, Jim Boob has no eyebrows. That’s all.
You know what I think could happen – Josh is NOT going to change and Anna is NOT allowed to have or show anger, She will catch Josh fingering one of their little girls and totally lose it and kill him. A person can only hold anger in for so long before they blow. It’s her job as mother to protect her children.
When are some people going to learn that hiding and making sexual feelings and actions seem wrong or bad are going to create sexually messed-up people. Somehow I just think that Josh’s actions from early on and into his marriage stem greatly from the sexually repressed lifestyle his parents inflicted on them. Not dissolving his responsibility, as an adult he should have gone for appropriate counseling, but maybe this is just not an avenue he knows. Sad and the more you read from all the parents you just want to slap them.
Have to be honest isn’t it a bit funny that Ashley Madison may be the thing that did him in. Honestly, not pro people having affairs, but the ones who didn’t think Ashley Madison might be a problem are really stupid. Let’s join a website with a credit card whose only purpose is to cheat on your spouse. Sounds real smart to me, if you want to get caught.
How can he rehabilite with out therapy?! Most idiotic thing I’ve heard in a while…without therapy he will never truly confront his issues and will be cheating again in no time…what are they going to do…lock him in a room and read the bible to him all day?
I can’t stand looking at pictures of JimBob and Michelle. It makes me ill to look at him always leaning into the camera with a big fake smile and confident attitude while she seems to shrink back into him, with her chin tilted down and a simpering smile and weird faux-sadness creases at the side of her eyes.
I know they are not the story here. Or at least, they are just the prequel to this horrifying story of child abuse, molestation and risky/ignorant sexual misconduct. But seriously, every single time I see a picture of the two of them I want to throw up. Then when I’m done throwing up, I want to scream at whoever in the media thought it was a-ok to give these fucknuts a platform for their hate and their ignorance, and every person who looks at a picture of this and sees an ideal relationship. I don’t know why, but I can barely move on to the issue at hand because every picture of these people derails my thought process and causes my stomach to do that weird dropping thing. Theirs are the faces of holy sociopathy.
I think those quotes are from Amy Duggar and her Mom. Amy’s wedding is next month, which is what I think “happy time” refers to. Jessa is too brainwashed and there’s no way any of the actual Duggar kids would be allowed to voice sentiments like this. Jim Bob would never allow it.
Mr. Keller is right. King David did have an affair. When she got pregnant, he also arranged for the woman’s husband to get killed in battle and then he married her. God punished them, though. The baby died; one of his sons raped his half-sister and was then killed by another son; that son later rebelled against David and was killed; and his oldest son, who should have inherited the throne, was killed by the younger son who inherited in his place.
My point being, I don’t think King David was a good example of someone who had an affair that didn’t screw up up the entire family for generations.