Joy-Anna Duggar Turns Against IBLP’s Rule About Married Couples Having as Many Kids as Possible

Another Duggar daughter has left the fold. In a recent Q&A video, Joy-Anna Duggar and her husband, Austin Forsyth, revealed that they have rejected the fundamentalist teachings their parents, Jim Bob and Michelle Duggar, espouse. Asked about the Institute in Basic Life Principles (IBLP), founded by the disgraced Bill Gothard, Austin was clear. 

“Once we got married, we started distancing ourselves from [IBLP] functions,” he said, adding that they were “never” part of the cult-like sect “as a couple.”

The news comes after Jill Duggar Dillard spilled about her experience growing up in Counting the Cost, including a legal battle with her father over not being paid for her time on 19 Kids and Counting. Previously, Jinger Duggar shared her struggle in her book Becoming Free Indeed. Now a Baptist, Joy-Anna went on to say she no longer believes Gothard’s mandate that married couples should have as many kids as possible.

As for the sect’s strict codes of modesty, the mom of three offered an adorable rebuke on social media: a clip of her daughter Evelyn, 3, dancing — an activity forbidden by IBLP.