The Willis Family was a TLC show about a family of 12 kids, ranging in age from five to 24, who sang and danced together in a country band with celtic influences. They came to fame competing on America’s Got Talent in 2014 and were signed to TLC in 2015 where their show aired seven episodes its first season and six this year. I’d never heard of this show until this latest terrible news, but it sounds like a lot of the reality show tripe on TLC. A quick glance at YouTube makes it look similar to The Duggars – an idealized, fake, overly simplified look into a family. While The Willis family aren’t thought to be Quiverful and I can’t verify whether they’re evangelical Christians, they are conservative Christians. Like the Duggars they’ve named all their kids with “J” names too. Unfortunately, like the Duggars, one of the stars was just arrested for predatory sexual behavior with children.
The Tennessee Bureau of Investigations announced that they began investigating Toby Nathaniel Willis, 46, on Aug. 29, and discovered that he allegedly had a sexual encounter with an underage girl in Nashville about 12 years ago.
TBI agents say they arrested Willis in Greenville, Kentucky, where he reportedly fled from his home in Ashland City, Tennessee to avoid police. He was charged with one count of rape of a child.
Willis and his family starred on TLC’s The Willis Family, which followed their life as a musical family of 14. Toby, his wife Brenda, and their 12 children first rose to fame when they reached the quarterfinals of season nine of America’s Got Talent.
TLC has removed The Willis Family page from its website.
A source tells PEOPLE that the show was canceled back in May, shortly after their second season aired.
“The family was alerted of the cancellation back in may 2016,” the source said. “The network performed extensive background checks on all the family [members] and found no issues.
“Obviously this is something they were never aware of,” the source added.
The Christian family’s conservative beliefs played a role in their TLC series. However, during an interview with PEOPLE last year, the couple’s oldest daughter Jessica said their household isn’t restrictive.
“We didn’t have a lot of restrictions,” Jessica said. “It wasn’t like, ‘Don’t do this!’ It was more like, ‘Try this or that.’ We’re always encouraged to do more things, but our parents are right there to catch us if it is a bridge too far.”
“We try to just kind of stay true to what the Bible says and live that in a very loving, nonjudgmental way without pushing that on anyone else,” Toby’s wife Brenda told PEOPLE at the time.
TLC is claiming that the show was already canceled but we’ve heard rumors that they knew about Josh Duggar’s crimes for years and didn’t do anything about it, so I side eye this version. They also claim that they did extensive background checks and a source tells US they “found no issues with Toby” prior to this. I hope TLC sticks to their guns and don’t continue working with the Willises by giving the children spin-off shows. (Like they did with the Duggars, and look how that’s turning out.) I also hope that these children are safe and that a thorough investigation is made into this family by CPS.
When looking for clips of this show on YouTube I found one where the father wouldn’t let his 19 year-old daughter, Jet, go on a trip by herself because “I just don’t think that’s a wise thing to let a young girl go off by herself, even though she’s going to be around some really good people, it’s just prudent to send them off in groups.”
Also they posted this on their Facebook page. It looks like someone wrote these words on their arms and like it’s one of the older boys.
photos via Facebook
Makes me glad I dumped TLC after the Duggars investigation. Ugh
I doubt TLC will bring them back in any capacity since they didn’t really make them that much money. I’ve seen their show a few times and it was pretty boring tbh. It was even worse than the Duggar show.
Whats up with TLC and bad people?
The people they do “extensive background checks” on.
Honey Boo Boo, Duggars, and now these people. Three strikes of child molestation on record is a pattern. It’s no longer a coincidence at this point. Maybe TLC should be investigated along with the families.
I have a vague recollection that a TLC executive / employee already was investigated and found to have his own child pornography-type history. This may or may not be why so many other similarly thinking and acting people are hired to be on this network. Does anyone else remember this?
@ Kate, yes, there was a guy – I think his last name was Blankenship? – who was an editor on Jon/Kate+8. He was busted for child porn. Supposedly it didn’t involve any of the TLC families directly, but ugh – if that doesn’t make a person question the wisdom of strangers filming small children then I guess nothing will.
Didn’t someone coin this channel as the “Touching Little Children” channel?
Maybe stop doing these types of shows!
More Christian fakery………….
The bigotry is mind-boggling.
My thoughts exactly! Usually people like this are always up to some shady stuff..
Not to be predjudiced but he looks like SUCH a predatory creep. Sometimes the first vibe you get of people turn out to be true.
People who decide to have so many children (12!!!!) in this time and age are always fishy for me. I would investigate deeper.
Lock him up and throw the key away.
TLC should be closed down and burnt.
I agree….no one normal wants double digit children. You simply cannot provide enough love and attention and it’s always religiously motivated and unhealthy.
Hmm I have an elderly Inlaw who was one of 17, and her mom did it on purpose, as she was an only. That was obviously a long time ago though .
My parents both came from huge families…with a zillion siblings. Trust me they did not get any attention and one Side lived in poverty due to too many mouths to feed but they were hard core catholic and didnt believe in birth control.
TLC needs to go away.
Horrifying on all levels. Blehhhh humanity
Where does TLC find all of these inbred weirdos? They sure know how to sniff them out.
craigslist.
*snerk*
I remember them from AGT. The whole family was a little too Von Trapp for me but this makes me sick, esp. for his kids. TLC (which ironically was The Learning Channel) has devolved into pediphile central. Shut the hole mess down
The words I want to use about this POS probably would not make it past the censors.
Ugh TLC. They could have just stuck to things like “Say Yes to the Dress”. But no they had to have their various series about annoying giant families.
I agree with everybody that TLC needs to go away or rename themselves to CMC (Child Molester Channel) how many more times is TLC going to be link to child molesters before someone does something about it.
Never heard of these people, and I believe in the whole innocent until proven guilty stuff, but it just seems weird to me that these ultra conservative Christian folk are the ones getting arrested for suspected abuse. I’m not religious but it just speaks volumes to me I.e. Hide behind a veneer of piousness to cover up your true feelings…
Also, those tattoos are just the worst.
He looks, um, extremely creepy.
Wow, really? Someone else who exploits their children for money and fame turns out to be a garbage human? I just can’t wait to see what the Touching Little Children network pushes on us next.
lol was trying to come up with something liking touching lil children!
God Bless You Insomniac….
Wow, I live in Nashville, and I haven’t seen anything about this in the news. Ashland City is outside of Nashville, a small rural community. I hope the young woman is okay. What is wrong with you, TLC!???
TLC= trash life channel
Or maybe terrible christian channel?
You know what? It’s not about self-control. If, as an adult, you are attracted to little kids, then you need to fix that issue, not just control it.
Yuck
If that is on one of the son’s arms, it makes me glad.
So much of the rape conversation is about how women need to have self control (like the Canadian judge the WaPo wrote about this weekend). I *hope* this male internalizes his own responsibility in his relationships. However, he has a father who raped a minor, broke his marriage vows AND tried to avoid being held accountable by bolting..
Terrible Life Choices
Trashy Loser “Celebrities”
Turn Le Channel
Tomfoolery Larceny Charlatans
Talking Like Chavs
Toxic Lame Crapfest
I’m partial to Turn Le Channel and Toxic Lame Crapfest.
Love Turn Le Channel!
Other websites are calling it Touching Little Children channel. I’m disgusted by this network.
The Lecher Channel
Seems these “large” families are a front for pedos and hebos. I would side-eye any man and woman this day and age purposely having literally a dozen children. It was different back in the day when birth control wasn’t available or was frowned upon by most major religions. That isn’t the case anymore, so why? My guess is hopes for attention and money to be made exploiting your family. Anybody with the tendency to exploit and who needs attention that badly, probably has other deep seeded issues.
Also disgusted by all the reality shows about “little people”, people with Downs Syndrome, etc. These shows have nothing to do with educating the public and everything to do with exploitation for entertainment – like a circus of deformed people because why: It’s funny, morbid curiosity? I thought we were long past that. And most recently, the ads for a new show with an all female little people cast fighting and acting catty and sexy like a MTV reality show. What the hell is the target audience for that show? Don’t tell me. I don’t want to know.
Have you ever seen “The Little Couple” they seem like to be the only once that are not about entertainment and are about education. I think this is mostly due to the fact that they don’t rely on the Network for a paycheck so there no need for “fake” drama. The wife Jen is a doctor and the husband is a business owner, they had their carriers way before TLC came along.
I know the shows like Little women LA, NY, ATL are produced by one of the women on the show. The little woman shows are no different then The Real Housewives of NY, ATL, NJ, CA, OC shows. With shows like the Duggers, Sister wives, the Kardashains on tt television. The answer is no we have not moved past that, none of these shows are educational.
I love The Little Couple, and you are exactly right. Both of them were successful on their own before the show and will be fine when it ends. Their children are just adorable!
Yes Zoe and Will are so cute. I really wish their show was on another network, because they deserve better then TLC.
TLC…Touching Little Children network. 😬 I do love Four-Weddings and My 600Lb life they need to stay with those type of shows. No more creepy families, ugh! Also how old was the girl? Is the limitations on how long they can press charges?
Police did not release the age of the victim. I am very interested to hear that detail. I believe child rape victims in TN have 25 years after their 18th birthday to report crimes of sexual assault.
I was reading on another site that for that state child rape is for 12 years of age and younger ugh!
I think cases such as this one have everything to do with the sense of entitlement that religion gives to males. Not just Christians but also Catholics and Muslims. And the more strict their beliefs, the more they feel women are inferior, were created to serve and please men, etc.
There’s definitely a trend.
Catholics ARE Christian, I wish people would stop separating those like they’re two different types of religion. Christianity has two major groups: Catholics and Protestants, but all are Christian.
Can we not forget Orthodox? Peeps seem to forget us in the rush to classify, which is amusing considering we’re second in numbers to Catholics last time I checked.
Yes. My thinking exactly!
Patriarchal control was built into religious systems for a reason. It’s a lot easier to tell your husband to f*ck off when it’s only his authority you answer to. It’s another thing entirely if you’ve been brainwashed to believe that authority comes from an unquestionable God.
Man, what is it with TLC and sexual predators???
You would have thought they would have learned their lesson after the Duggars, but apparently the dollar allure from broadcasting the latest multiple birth sideshow is still too strong to combat either common sense or concern for minors.
It’s like TLC and Bravo actively seek out the sketchiest, skelliest, low lifes out there.
While reading this article I was NOT expecting that mugshot! Holy cow he looks scary and deranged in that photo! Don’t think his mugshot could look any scarier. Nightmare fuel. Have fun in prison you gross POS!
You cannot have a “sexual encounter” with an underage person. There’s a reason statutory rape laws exist — people under a certain age are not capable of giving consent. It’s rape.
Really hate when newspapers use sex and rape interchangeably.
+1
There seems to be some correlation between these types of restrictive, patriarchy controlled lifestyle and sexual deviancy. Sex is often treated as something sordid and forbidden, the act only approved and considered sacred based on narrow ‘Christian’ values. And the father/husband tripping off his power as head of the household.
This is so terrible. I’m glad this woman chose to press charges.
I just read up on this rapist. Apparently his father was a pastor and his mother homeschooled all of her children. Six of his siblings ended up dying in a car fire. His family won a 100 million dollar settlement due to the crash.
Christian cults and chold rape seem to go hand in hand. Didn’t this shit network learn it’s lesson after Josh? Oh, nvm, of course they don’t care.
Josh wasn’t even the first one. One if the production people who work on I believe it was Jon and Kate plus 8 was a child molester.
I call BS on TLC saying they didn’t know, I think they knew about all. I think TLC feels like if it not a “recent” case and if the public is unaware of the charges, then they are hired,
And before Josh was Honey Boo Boo’s mom, who dated the guy that molested her own daughter several years before. TLC should go from The Learning Channel to Talent for Locating Criminals.
It’s kind of inevitable when you create a system where women are defined solely by their sexual and reproductive nature, turning them into objects that are lacking in both agency and human value.
Some poor soul has been carrying this around for TWELVE years. Ugh. I hope she gets the closure and healing she needs.
Sicker still, we still don’t have any idea if this poor victim was one of his own daughters. Or, since one victim has bravely stepped forward, that there aren’t a trail of other innocent little lives absolutely destroyed by this beast and freaking hypocrite.
Maybe TLC should just shut down. Their track record is increasingly horrible, and getting worse by the second.
Just save face and leave cable television lol
TLC is a joke of a network. How many pedos is it now? I’ve lost count. Barf.
Thank the Good Lord that at least TLC still has Super Kodester and the Asperger Harem to swoop in and save the day!!
Ugh, so while I don’t personally know the family, I have a family member who is semi-related to the husbands side of the family. So I was shocked when I heard this. I don’t know if anyone reading this remembers back probably close to 20 years ago, his parents were in a terrible accident on the interstate where a semi truck lost a piece of the truck, & the family mini-van ran over it. It caught on fire & while his parents lived, all the children in the van died due to sitting closer to the gas tank. It was horrible. He was already an adult at the time. Anyways, his parents are crazy conservative, but from what I saw of the tv show (I only watched a few episodes) his family was no where near as conservative as he grew up, but his parents were basically Duggar level conservative.
Jeez, dump this channel, or rename it TMC, the Molester Channel….
I can think of only one person for whom this arrest was “unfortunate” – and that’s TOBY.
I’m pretty OK with it, actually.
TLC = Talent for Locating Criminals
Gross. My town borders Ashland City, TN. Never heard of this dude, his family, or their show. TLC, STOP GIVING THESE PEOPLE SHOWS.
The Willis accident was horrific, back in 1994. It led to a deeper probe re:the driver of the truck and how he received his driver’s license. The then governor of Illinois, G. Ryan, ended up serving time as part of license for sale scandal.
6 children died and the parents were horribly burned. Ages 6 weeks-13.
It was sad all around. I have never watched the show and didn’t know this was one of the adult children of this couple. The couple went to all court hearings over the years and said they forgave everyone, but wanted to make sure all involved were punished. The tragedy of it all.
I hope the victim receives justice. 12 years is a long time to wait for justice. This is just sickening.
They should rename it TPC (the Pedophile channel,or TPN (the pedophile network)