Duggars: Josh Molested 4 Sisters, Babysitter

They 'felt like failures,' but they believe they're being singled out
By Rob Quinn,  Newser Staff
Posted Jun 3, 2015 11:24 PM CDT
Updated Jun 4, 2015 7:21 AM CDT
Duggars Break Silence on Molestation Scandal
This photo provided by Fox News shows Megyn Kelly sitting down with the Duggar children of the TLC program "19 Kids and Counting."   (FOX News via AP)

Two weeks after the skeleton burst out of the Duggar family closet, Jim Bob and Michelle Duggar have opened up about the Josh Duggar molestation scandal. In an interview with Megyn Kelly on Fox News, they talk about how they felt and what they did when they discovered their oldest son had "improperly touched" four of his sisters and a babysitter. Some highlights:

  • "As parents, we felt, we're failures," Michelle Duggar said. "Here we've tried to raise our kids to do what's right, to know what's right, and yet one of our children made some really bad choices. I think as a parent, we were just, we were devastated."

  • But this "was not rape or anything like that," Jim Bob said. "It was touching someone over the clothes. It was, like, a few seconds, and then he came to us and crying told us what happened."
  • The abuse continued even after Josh first confessed the abuse in 2002, and they had to put up "safeguards" at home, the Duggars admitted. Jim Bob said Josh was eventually "pulled from the home" for a Christian counseling program. "It was after that third time he came to us, is where we really felt like, 'You know what? We have done everything we can as parents to handle this in-house,'" Jim Bob said. "'We need to get help.'"
  • The couple said they aren't sure whether 19 Kids and Counting will continue, but Jim Bob defended the decision for the family to star in a reality show despite their shocking secret. "We had a clean bill of health from the state. We had no fear," he said. The record was sealed, he added, and "they said it would never be brought out."
  • The Duggars describe the document leak that exposed the scandal as an "unprecedented attack" on their family and believe they're being targeted because of their religion. "Every one of us has done things wrong. That's why Jesus came," Michelle says. "There's an agenda, and there's people that are purposing to try to bring things out and twisting them to hurt and slander."
  • Kelly also spoke to two Duggar daughters, and she says the rest of the interview will be aired on Friday night, USA Today reports. In quotes that Fox has released, Jessa Duggar says she was victimized by her older brother, but calling him a child molester is "so overboard and a lie," the AP reports.
Click to watch Funny or Die spoof the scandal or to read about the latest police report to be leaked. (More Jim Bob Duggar stories.)

Get the news faster.
Tap to install our app.
X
Install the Newser News app
in two easy steps:
1. Tap in your navigation bar.
2. Tap to Add to Home Screen.

X