Logo

LA Times; Fox News

Michelle and Jim Bob Duggar Talk About Son, Josh, Inappropriately Touching Some of Their Daughters in TV Interview with Fox News’ Megyn Kelly

Jun 3, 2015  •  Post A Comment

In an interview with Megyn Kelly of Fox News that aired Wednesday night, June 3, 2015, “Jim Bob Duggar said [his son] Josh came to him at age 14 and said he had ‘improperly touched some of our daughters’ while they were sleeping,” reports the Los Angeles Times.

The report continues, “‘Safeguards’ were put in place, but then Josh started to touch the girls in a different room, he said. Sometimes the girls were awake, he said. ‘This was not rape or anything like that,’ Jim Bob Duggar said. ‘There were a couple of instances where he touched them under their clothes, but it was like a few seconds. And then he came to us and was crying and told us what happened.’”

The Times adds that Jim Bob “said that after Josh’s third such confession, the couple decided they could not handle the situation on their own. When Josh was 15, they said, they sent him to a ‘training center’ in Little Rock run by a man who mentored young men who had made ‘unwise choices.’

In the interview it came out that over time Josh told his parents that he had touched four of his sisters and a baby sitter.

Writes Fox News, “Following his return from Little Rock, his parents took Josh to a local Arkansas State police facility where he described his actions. ‘We felt it was an important step for Josh to confess to the police,’ Jim Bob said.

“Asked why they would launch a television show in 2008 with this episode in the family background, Jim Bob replied, ‘we had nothing to hide. We’d taken care of all that years before.’ TLC pulled all episodes of that show, ‘19 Kids and Counting,’ after news of the touching incidents broke but the network has yet to cancel the series.

“As for what’s next for the family, Jim Bob told Kelly, ‘we are fine whether they film us or not.’

As of this posting, Fox has neither published the entire interview on the Internet, nor a transcript of the entire interview. However, here are all the clips from the interview that Fox News has posted on YouTube at the time we publish this item:

3 Comments

  1. It’s interesting to see the soft touch and the “golly gee whiz” that is coming at the Duggars, who have quite vocal about their “good Christian values” and very negative about any kind of “non-traditional” sexual relations. And if these clowns had not been reactionary, “Conservative Christians” the media would be ripping them new orifices and clamoring for the kid’s head. The hypocrisy here is amazing, buy yet, not unexpected.

  2. “This was not rape or anything like that”……what the hell was it then?

  3. Boys going through puberty will make mistakes they often regret. Cousins, siblings & friends experimenting and exploring each other’s bodies, has gone on since humans came about. This situation with Josh was not rape, or even close. There was no penetration, only touching due to curiosity and crazy hormones. I think this incident will cause many “normal” people to admit this very thing, or similar situation, has happened to them, as the giver or the receiver. It is an unspoken common childhood act. Slumber parties with girls experimenting, boys doing gross, distasteful sexual things toward each other, and on and on. This does not mean these kids grow up to be child molesters or rapists. Puberty is tough to control, & so is the curiosity of sex. Parents need to be more aware, & take action before it happens.

Your Comment

Email (will not be published)