Jill Duggar Dillard has revealed that she felt “sick” that her parents, Jim Bob Duggar and Michelle Duggar, went the extra mile to cover up son Josh Duggar‘s molestation of her and several of her sisters when they were growing up.
In her memoir Counting the Cost, released on Tuesday, September 12, Jill, 32, wrote how her parents’ decision to guard Josh began to impact her. “Though I love my parents and it made a lot of sense that they would want to protect and care for their child, I couldn’t help but think about the lengths that Pops had gone to in order to guard Josh’s privacy and keep him from being publicly humiliated,” she explained.
“I mentioned this to Derick, and he said that he had noticed the same thing. The feelings grew stronger within me, and by the time I went to bed I felt sick to my core,” Jill continued about how she had discussed the molestation with husband Derick Dillard, 34.
In 2015, Josh admitted to molesting his sisters as a teenager, but his parents learned about the inappropriate touching in 2002 after one of his siblings claimed that eldest Duggar son — who was 14 at the time — touched her breasts and genitals while she was sleeping and that it happened on multiple occasions. Her brother admitted to doing so to his father when questioned, and Jim Bob disciplined Josh rather than report the incidents to the police.
In March 2003, Josh was accused by several of his sisters of touching their breasts and genitals while sleeping as well as when they were awake. Jim Bob met with the church elders and told them what was going on but did not alert law enforcement. Instead, Josh was sent to a treatment center in Little Rock, Arkansas, run by the institute of basic life principles. The Duggar family has remained faithful to the nondenominational Christian sect for years, with former family friends Jim and Bobye Holt claiming in the 2023 Amazon docuseries Shiny Happy People that Jim Bob and Michelle have taken over the role of IBLP’s head from Bill Gothard.
The information about Josh’s molestation incidents came to light in 2015 after In Touch obtained a Springdale, Arkansas, police report dated December 7, 2006, where Jim Bob had told the authorities what happened, but the statute of limitations had run out and Josh was never charged with any crimes.
Jim Bob and Michelle defended not reporting Josh’s molestation incidents during a June 3, 2015 interview with Megyn Kelly on Fox News. “Looking back, we did the best we could under the circumstances. He was still a kid. He was still a juvenile. He wasn’t an adult. This was not rape or anything like that. This was touching someone over their clothes,” the family patriarch said.
The couple revealed that four of the girls were his sisters. Jill and Jessa Duggar would later come forward as two of his victims. They defended him on a June 5, 2015, interview with Kelly and said they were unaware they were victims until their dad told them about what happened. “I was shocked, like okay this is strange. I didn’t know, I didn’t understand this is what happened,” Jessa said.
Jill explained during the interview, “I was angry at first, I was like, how could this happen? And then, you know, my parents explained to us what happened and then Josh came and asked each of us, individually I know, he asked me to forgive him. And I had to make that choice to forgive him, you know.”
Jill explained during the interview, “I was angry at first, I was like, how could this happen? And then, you know, my parents explained to us what happened and then Josh came and asked each of us, individually I know, he asked me to forgive him. And I had to make that choice to forgive him, you know.”
“And it wasn’t something that somebody forced like, Oh you need to do this. It’s like, you have to make that decision for yourself. My dad explained to us, he said, ‘You know there’s a difference between forgiveness and trust. That’s not the same thing.’ You know, you forgive someone and then you have boundaries. Forgiveness with boundaries. And so, trust comes later. You know Josh destroyed that trust at the beginning. And so, he had to rebuild that,” she added.
Josh later said in a statement, “I acted inexcusably for which I am extremely sorry.” He was convicted on child pornography charges in 2021 and sentenced to 12.5 years in prison.
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