PHOTOSA Decade On TV: The Duggars’ 10 Most Shocking Scandals Over The Years
Oct. 8 2018, Updated 6:09 p.m. ET
The Duggar family is celebrating 10 years of TV fame! On September 29, 2008, the family’s first show 17 Kids and Counting premiered on TLC. Since then, parents Jim Bob and Michelle have had two more kids, and their daughters have gone on to have their own spin-off show, Counting On. While the family has found tons of success in reality TV, it’s also exposed them to their fair share of scandals. From Josh Duggar’s cheating bombshell to Joy-Anna Duggar’s rumored shotgun wedding, scroll below to see the Duggars' biggest scandals from over the past decade!
By July 2015, TLC announced it would be canceling the family’s show, 19 Kids and Counting.
One month later, it was revealed that Josh was a member of the infidelity website Ashley Madison, which assisted men in committing adultery. Josh admitted to being “the biggest hypocrite ever” and confessed to having a “secret addiction” to porn. “I became unfaithful to my wife,” he confirmed in a statement.
After the cheating scandal broke, Josh entered a long-term Christian-based treatment center, where he stayed for six months, RadarOnline.com reported. Despite the scandal, Josh and his wife Anna are still married and even welcomed a fifth child.
Following the cancellation of 19 Kids & Counting, TLC created the show Counting On, following the lives of Josh’s sisters Jill and Jessa. Their scandal-free redemption was short-lived, however, when Jill’s husband Derick Dillard went on a transphobic Twitter rant against fellow TLC star Jazz Jennings in August 2017.
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In November 2017, Derick slammed Jazz again. He compared Jazz's show I Am Jazz, which followed Jazz’ transgender journey, to child abuse. TLC then announced it had no further plans to feature Derick on Counting On. Since Derick’s firing, his wife Jill has not appeared on the show either.
Amid Jill’s scandal, her sister Joy-Anna was dealing with one of her own. In August 2017, the newlywed revealed she was pregnant just three months after saying “I do” to husband Austin Forsyth. While fans weren’t surprised Joy got pregnant so fast, they were shocked by the size of her baby bump in the pregnancy announcement—they even suggested she got pregnant before the wedding!
Dr. Stuart Fischer, the National Enquirer Chief Medical Correspondent, who has not treated Joy, told RadarOnline.com that Joy looked “four or five months pregnant” in the pregnancy announcement pics.
Most recently, Joy’s brother John-David has come under fire for breaking the Duggar’s strict courtship rules with his fiancée Abbie Burnett! The couple was spotted on an unchaperoned date—a major no-no in the Duggar world—and they even posted a pic of themselves on Instagram giving each other a full frontal hug. (Duggar fans know the family usually only allows side hugs during courtships.)
John-David’s twin sibling Jana has also been the subject of shocking rumors lately. Fans theorized the oldest, unmarried Duggar daughter was secretly dating her best friend Laura DeMasie, but both Derick and Laura shut down the rumors on Twitter.
Which Duggar scandal do you find the most shocking? Sound off in the comments below!
