Since getting married in September 2008, Josh Duggar and Anna Duggar have stood by each other’s sides, even in the wake of Josh’s cheating scandal in 2015 and amid his child pornography trial and guilty verdict in December 2021.
The conservative Christians met at a homeschooling convention in 2006 and began their courtship the following year. Josh got down on one knee in June 2008 and the couple exchanged vows in Florida three months later. They share seven children: Mackynzie Renée (born October 2009), Michael James (born June 2011), Marcus Anthony (born June 2013), Meredith Grace (born July 2015), Mason Garrett (born September 2017), Maryella Hope (born November 2019) and Madyson Lily (born in October 2021).
Fans of 19 Kids and Counting watched the early days of the pair’s fairy tale romance play out on the TLC series, but it wasn’t long until the duo hit a rough patch. In May 2015, In Touch reported that Josh had been accused of molesting five underage girls between 2002 and 2003, when he was a teenager. Several of the victims were his sisters. As more details about the case emerged, TLC canceled the Duggar family’s reality show.
His past behavior wasn’t the only thing making headlines. In August 2015, Josh owned up to cheating on Anna and using the Ashley Madison website to conduct extramarital affairs. “I have been the biggest hypocrite ever. While espousing faith and family values, I have secretly over the last several years been viewing pornography on the internet and this became a secret addiction and I became unfaithful to my wife,” he wrote in a statement published on his family’s blog at the time. “I am so ashamed of the double life that I have been living and am grieved for the hurt, pain and disgrace my sin has caused my wife and family, and most of all Jesus and all those who profess faith in Him.”
Josh asked for forgiveness from his fans and later checked into a rehab facility to seek help for his pornography addiction. After visiting her husband at the treatment center, Anna opened up about “the most difficult year” of her life.
“I want to thank all of you for your prayers and your messages of hope,” she wrote in a January 2016 blog. “I can never express how your kindness and prayers have brought encouragement when I needed it most — outpacing the grief and discouragement at every turn. I trust that God will continue to show His love and tenderness toward us and bring beauty from ashes — somehow — as only He can do. Please continue to pray for me, Josh and our children.”
After working through their struggles in marriage counseling, the pair reconciled and continued to share their story with fans — but not on TLC. The network gave the Duggars another series, Counting On, but Josh and Anna have not been closely involved. (Since December 2015, the show aired 11 seasons but was canceled in June 2021 following Josh’s arrest on April 29.)
In April 2021, In Touch confirmed Josh was taken into police custody in Arkansas. The incident came just five days after Anna announced the couple was expecting baby No. 7 on April 24.
On November 30, Josh’s child pornography trial began, during which Anna appeared at his side as they entered and exited the federal courthouse. Six days later, the now-disgraced reality was found guilty of one count of receiving child pornography and one count of possessing child pornography. He remains in custody and is awaiting his sentencing hearing.
Keep scrolling to relive Josh and Anna Duggar’s relationship.
Source: InTouch
