The family is on NBC News. NBC via Getty Images.
Until someone introduced them to the world, the Duggars weren't famous. That person was me.
The story about the Arkansas family with 14 children was suggested by my editor. "Yes, I agreed."
My goal was to share a tale about unusual people, like my profiles of a hairdresser for mall Santas or the director of an association for nude recreation. I didn't volunteer because I was a Jewish feminist mother of two who had different ideas about how to raise children than her, and who associated huge families with the era before birth control andsustainability concerns.
The story was filled with homespun observations of how the Duggars managed the laundry and trips to the grocery store, and how chores were an opportunity to serve the family and God. Their motto was "joy" for Jesus first, others second, yourself last.
Older siblings made sure their younger friends were dressed and changed. Older siblings helped their friends with their schoolwork. I wouldn't have asked teens if the older children were co-parenting the younger ones.
In an accompanying photo, the kids line up behind their parents from tallest to smallest, except for Joshua. He was away from the Christian program from March 17 to July 17 of 2003 according to the police report. I had no idea that his parents sent him there after they discovered he had molested five young girls, including several of his sisters.
After my article was published, someone at Discovery Health Channel decided to make a documentary about the family. I never watched the show that ran for seven years, 17 Kids and Counting.
For years, my tie to the Duggars was a funny story accompanied by an eye roll. ... I could ignore the Duggars until May 2015, when In Touch Weekly ran a story, '19 Kids and Counting Son Named in Underage Sex Probe,' identifying Josh Duggar as the alleged offender.
For a long time, my tie to the Duggars was a funny story. I didn't follow their political activities, like the one they did against the anti- discrimination law in Arkansas.
In Touch Weekly ran a story in May 2015, naming Josh, the son of Jim Bob and Jessa. Within a few weeks, the couple told Megyn Kelly that Joshua had molested five girls, including four of his sisters.
The network said it was a mutual decision to end the show after it was renamed 19 Kids and Counting. It didn't take long for the dynasty, and the network profits, to continue with the show.
I am extremely sorry and deeply regret my actions twelve years ago when I was a teenager. He apologized in a public apology in May.
He wasn't arrested at that point, but he was in the news again a few months later when it was reported that he was a member of the adultery website. He wrote on the family's website that he was the biggest hypocrite ever. I have been viewing pornography on the internet for several years and have been unfaithful to my wife, but I edited the post to cut the porn addiction. He opened a used car business after he left a religious rehabilitation center.
Joshua was arrested in April of 2021 on charges of receiving and possession of child pornography. He was found guilty of two counts after a brief trial late last year. He will be sentenced on May 25 and could spend up to two decades in prison. His attorneys plan to appeal the conviction after prosecutors said he had more than 200 images of children on his computer.
In this photo provided by the Washington County Sheriff's Office, Josh Duggar poses for a booking photo after his arrest in Arkansas. The handout is courtesy of
I have felt sadness about the effects of Joshua's behavior. I have thought about my role in the family's rise to fame, and what I may share in common with several of their daughters. I am a child abuse survivor.
My mother did not abuse me. The physical and emotional attacks that she has been doing, like the sexual offenses that happened in the family, happened where a child is supposed to feel safe. There were attacks in my bedroom. My mother opened and closed scissors above my eyes when I woke up. I barricaded the door at night after the incident.
It's easy to be uneasy about the June 2015 interview with Megyn Kelly in which Jessa andJill identified themselves as victims of the inappropriate.
Jessa wanted to speak up in Josh's defense against people who were calling him a child molester. She described what happened asmild, inappropriate touching on fully clothed victims, most of it by a boy who was asleep.
We didn't know about it until he confessed it to my parents.
The sisters were shocked to learn of the incidents. The feelings of sadness and anger were described by the man.
Kelly asked if he had a memory of it.
Jessa said she didn't understand what had happened until her parents told her.
The girls didn't catch on because Joshua was very stealth. It was very subtle.
Joshua asked his sisters for forgiveness. He left home for a Christian program and missed a photo shoot for my Parents article.
Kelly asked if you were scared at all that he might resume.
They didn't. And so trust comes later. Seeing the news splashed across a magazine cover was worse for her because we have already forgiven Josh. We have already moved on.
According to several sources, the touching wasn't strictly over clothes while the girls were asleep. According to the police report, Joshua put his hand under the girl's dress while they were in the laundry room. At Joshua's recent trial, a family friend said that Josh had told her years ago that he had digitally penetrated a young girl while she sat on his lap. News
As the mother of a daughter, I feel dizzy typing those lines. In truth, inappropriate touching among children is a complex subject. According to Elizabeth Letourneau, director of the Moore Center for the Prevention of Child Sexual Abuse at John'sHopkins University, anywhere from 50% to 70% of child sexual abuse incidents are committed by other children and teens under the age of 18. Letourneau told me in an interview that children in puberty are more likely to make misjudgments about consent.
A family friend said Josh had told her years ago he'd 'digitally penetrated' a young girl while she sat on his lap and he read her Bible stories ... I feel dizzy typing those lines, especially as the mother of a daughter.
Kids get older and are less likely to engage in sexual behavior with younger kids. Children who are treated for harmful sexual behaviors are more likely to stay out of trouble in the future.
According to the reports, Joshua did not molest one girl. I can only attribute the decision of his parents to a reality television show to unabashed chutzpah. At least one daughter has a different perspective on her family after she left in 2017: in a few years, she distanced herself from her family. After seeing all the evidence as it was presented, we believe that the jury reached a just verdict today, consistent with the truth beyond a reasonable doubt.
Some of the parents reported beliefs are no joke.
In their book, A Love That Multiplies, the family denied they were followers. I am horrified at the idea that Jim Bob and his wife might not go to college for women. According to reports, Jessa and two other sisters took online courses.
When I wrote a feature about the family 19 years ago, I didn't think they'd become so influential. I hope that other extraordinary people I've written about, or will write about, get the same recognition for their achievements as I do for being religious and having lots of kids.
That is the thing. It is difficult to know how our decisions will play out or how an innocent personal interest story will change so many lives. I feel a responsibility for the legacy of being an abuse survivor, and partly because of this, I feel a responsibility for unleashing the Duggars onto the world. If I hadn't written about them, another writer would have.
It was really helpful for us to just kind of be close, since I have found myself dwelling on his sisters comments about seeing a licensed counselor after Josh reportedly molested them.
It's impossible to know ifJill and Jessa ever wrestled with the questions that face many young survivors of abuse by a family member. Did I deserve this? Is it ever going to be safe for me? As an adult, how do I create a family of my own?
It wasn't for me to move past it. Therapy helps you express your feelings. You wonder how assaults or trauma affect you at different stages of your life. You gradually incorporate the experience into who you are, knowing that it doesn't define you, but that it leaves a mark that will always linger.
On the day their brother is sentenced and in their lives for years to come, maybe the young women in the family did that hard work and will do more. They will have to write their own story.
The Washington Post, Reader's Digest, and NPR's "All Things Considered" have all featured the essays of Andrea Cooper.
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