How Anna Duggar Became Trapped In The Duggar Family Nightmare

Anna Duggar became widely known through her appearances on TLC’s popular reality series 19 Kids and Counting. She has since become even more infamous as the wife of the now-convicted former reality television personality Josh Duggar. Josh was convicted and sentenced to serve twelve and a half years in federal prison for possession of child sexual abuse material.

At thirty-five years old, Anna stands as a single mother raising seven children while trying to find her way through this painful new chapter alone. Her husband has been accused, caught, and convicted of deeply disturbing crimes. From the moment the news broke, Anna has remained by his side.

She has brought the children to visit him in prison countless times, both during court proceedings and after his sentencing. There have even been reports suggesting she wants to move closer to the facility so the family can see him more often.

Public opinion about Anna remains sharply divided. Some people feel genuine sympathy for the difficult position she is in. Others believe she shares some responsibility and argue that if she truly wanted to protect her children, she would have left him long ago and never looked back.

There is far more to her story than most realize. Many people have failed her along the way: her reality television star husband, his reality television star parents, her own parents, and the rigid religious community that shaped her entire worldview.

This is a tale of deceit, selfishness, betrayal, and greed. It involves a crooked law enforcement officer and powerful media interests. This is the story of how everyone around her let her down time and again, and how Anna Duggar’s life seemed almost destined for hardship from the very beginning.

Anna Renee Keller was born in South Florida to parents Mike and Suzette Keller. She was the fifth of eight siblings.

Their family may not have been as large as the Duggars, but by most American standards, it was still quite big. Her father worked as a minister.

You might assume he grew up in a deeply religious home, but he actually did not become a Christian until he was nineteen years old. He attended a seminar called Basic Youth Conflicts that changed his path. Anna’s mother, on the other hand, had known faith from a very young age.

She accepted Christianity when she was nine and regularly rode the church bus. Their paths eventually crossed. Three years after Mike became a Christian, at age twenty-one, he married Suzette and they began building their family.

They raised their children in a strict, devout household. The seminar that influenced Mike was created by Bill Gothard, founder of the Institute in Basic Life Principles. William W. Gothard Jr. was a Christian pastor, speaker, writer, and the leader of an ultra-conservative Independent Baptist organization.

His teachings promoted Bible memorization, large families, homeschooling, avoiding debt, male authority, female submission, and conservative dress codes, especially for women. In 1978, at nineteen, Mike attended one of Gothard’s popular seminars. At that time, these week-long events filled auditoriums across the country.

This was the experience that spoke to Mike and led him to embrace this ideology fully. He and Suzette followed it closely once they married and started their family. They homeschooled using Gothard’s Advanced Training Institute curriculum.

The program ran from 1984 to 2001 and centered on wisdom booklets. ATI drew criticism for its approach to education. Instead of standard academics, the booklets offered unusual and often inaccurate biblical interpretations.

One of the most troubling concepts was the idea of God’s “umbrella of protection.” This teaching emphasized that a woman must submit to her husband in all things, just as she would submit to God. Under this belief, women had little room for independent choices because the husband held ultimate authority.

The Kellers embraced the Bill Gothard way, the IBLP teachings, and the ATI community. Years later, Anna’s sister Priscilla even married the director of ATI and its family conferences. Anna was thirteen when she first learned about the Duggar family through mutual friends.

It was Christmas Day when a friend sent her an article about them. This was the photograph that launched the Duggars into public attention and eventual fame. A photographer captured Jim Bob Duggar and Michelle Duggar heading out to vote during his unsuccessful 2002 campaign for the U.S. Senate, surrounded by their then-thirteen children.

A writer saw the image and created a story around it. That story caught the eye of an executive at the Discovery Channel. Anna read that very article and thought it would be nice to meet the family someday.

When Anna was sixteen, the Duggars’ first documentary aired on TLC. “Some friends of ours sent us a copy of 14 Children and Pregnant Again,” Anna remembered. “As my family watched the video, I noticed how Joshua, then aged 16, shared the importance of guarding his heart and waiting for someone who would really love him and wasn’t going to get carried away with their emotions.”

“I was so excited to see another family who was brought up so similar to the way our parents were training us,” she said. “But never would I have dreamed what God had in store.” Anna had no idea what awaited her in the coming years.

While she watched and admired the family on television, she did not know that during that same period Josh had not only entered a betrothal with another girl but was also deeply involved in troubling behavior. In the public eye, the Duggars, including Josh, had become overnight celebrities thanks to their hit show. Around this time, at age fourteen, Josh was betrothed to Kaylee Holt, daughter of former Arkansas state representative Jim Holt and his wife.

The Duggars and Holts were very close. Jim Bob and Jim had known each other since grade school. The Duggar children even referred to the Holts as aunt and uncle.

The Holt family had eleven children close in age to the Duggars, and Kaylee was near Josh’s age. Both sets of parents hoped Josh and Kaylee would eventually marry. “Josh says something like, ‘I’d like to know if I’d be able to court Kaylee for the purpose of marriage,’” it was recalled. “And we said yes.”

This arrangement lasted about two years. One night, Jim Bob, Michelle, and Josh met with the Holts and confessed what had been happening. Josh admitted to several incidents.

At the time, they were not described as criminal, but more like brief touching over clothing. There had been warning signs leading up to it. “I remember that night on March 30th, they brought us over because they said the reasons we’re telling you this is because Josh is in a relationship with Kaylee,” the account stated.

“That was the reason they told us because they knew he had done it before and never told us before that he cheated on Kaylee,” it continued. “That’s why we were involved.” After hearing everything, the Holts decided to end the betrothal.

Jim urged Jim Bob to turn Josh over to authorities because the actions were criminal. Jim Bob, Jim, and Josh drove to the station where Josh confessed to Arkansas State Trooper Joseph Hutchins. He shared everything he had told his parents and church elders, including the names of those involved.

The elder present said Hutchins took no notes or recordings. At the end, he told Josh no further action would be taken because of his strong support system. A mild-mannered Hutchins told the teenager he came from a good family with good support.

He warned that if Josh touched any of the girls again, he would be taken away. The troubling detail is that Joseph Hutchins was a personal friend of Jim Bob. Years later, Hutchins himself would be arrested on similar charges involving child sexual abuse material.

In a prison interview with In Touch magazine, Hutchins admitted his decision not to report Josh to the child abuse hotline as required by law was wrong. “The victim he was told about should have been my first priority,” he said. He added that he had lost sleep over the choice.

“I am a Christian myself and I worry that if something else had happened, I would have been responsible,” Hutchins stated. However, he claimed that at the police station in Little Rock, Jim Bob had presented it as a one-time incident. Jim Bob convinced his friend to issue only a stern warning and let Josh go.

Kaylee later said, “To say I dodged a bullet is an understatement of the century.” It would take three full years before proper authorities learned about Josh’s actions. The Duggars were riding high with their show at peak popularity.

Even Oprah Winfrey wanted to feature them and invited the family to Chicago. They were scheduled to appear in December 2006. Before filming, Harpo staff received an anonymous email at 7:30 a.m. on December 7th and immediately contacted authorities.

This was the first time real law enforcement, not a personal friend of Jim Bob, became aware of Josh’s actions. Oprah’s team reported the email warning about crimes against several girls. Police called Michelle and Jim Bob at 1:17 p.m. and told them to bring their son in for questioning.

Oprah sent the family home right away. There is a clear pattern of Jim Bob minimizing and covering up Josh’s behavior. Almost every time Josh’s actions surfaced, they were downplayed.

One of the most troubling examples is how Jim Bob believed he could control his son’s behavior by using Kaylee as motivation. He saw it as simple as dangling a carrot. “Are you basically saying you were kind of using my daughter as like a carrot to get him to behave the right way?” Jim Holt asked. “Well yeah, kinda,” Jim Bob replied.

While Kaylee avoided becoming that dangling carrot, Anna would soon step into a similar role. 2006 was the year when the Duggars’ secrets and lies collided with Anna’s life. Not only did Oprah’s team and real authorities learn about Josh that year, but it was also when Josh and Anna met at an ATI Home Educators Conference.

Anna’s two older sisters had followed the group’s principles and were happily married. Anna was eager to see the results of years of guarding hearts and trusting God through parental guidance. She wanted to wait for God’s perfect match, a young man striving for the same values.

Anna’s family traveled from Florida to Texas for the annual ATI conference. They had attended many before, but this time was different because the Kellers and Duggars spent time together. “During this time our family spent together, I felt God was showing me that Joshua was the one I would marry someday,” Anna wrote.

The Duggars had just finished campaigning for State Senate and were weeks away from the primary when Jim Bob brought the family to the conference. “My siblings and I enjoyed meeting Joshua,” Anna recalled. “As we introduced ourselves, I was amazed that Joshua was able to guess our ages right.”

People often thought she was five to seven years older than she actually was, which embarrassed her. They talked about the family’s political campaign and their new house. “Josh mentioned that we would have to come over and visit them sometime,” Anna said. “I was like, ‘That is so nice, but we live all the way out in Florida, it would never happen.’”

As their conversation ended, Anna thought, “I’ve never met anyone else like this before.” But that was as far as her thoughts went. Josh’s thoughts were quite different.

“As we talked, I felt God speak to my heart that this was the girl I was going to marry someday,” Josh stated. “I enjoyed our fellowship and then resumed my schedule for the rest of the day,” he continued. “By that night, I still could not get her off my mind.”

He told his father what he felt God had said. Jim Bob thought it might be possible and asked if Josh felt ready for a relationship. Josh knew he had work to do if courtship or marriage was ahead.

After returning home, he focused on opening his pre-owned car dealership and preparing a house for his future family. Between work and family responsibilities, Josh stayed very busy. This is a good moment to remember the IBLP’s “umbrella of protection” teachings.

In my view, this was likely when the heads of both households had private conversations. It makes sense given the timing. Jim Bob knew the previous betrothal with the Holts had ended badly.

That was one of his oldest friends, and they did not want their daughter marrying Josh. Jim Bob probably did not want to risk another failure. I would not be surprised if he saw the Kellers as an ideal match, almost heaven-sent.

During the families’ time together, natural conversations arose about jobs, backgrounds, and life. It is likely Mike Keller mentioned something that caught Jim Bob’s attention. Remember, Mike was a minister.

He had been a welder as a young man before entering full-time ministry. In 1994, while serving jury duty on a local trial, he had a realization about the need for prison ministry. Shortly after, he began volunteering at juvenile detention centers.

Two years later, he pursued full-time prison ministry. He traveled for months doing deputation work at churches and often brought his children along as volunteers. This background likely came up in conversation with Jim Bob.

Both Jim Bob and Michelle probably saw it as perfect. Here was a family that shared their values. They also understood juvenile salvation and prison ministry.

They had daughters around Josh’s age ready for courtship. You could not have designed a better match to help the Duggars with their “Josh problem.” I believe the two fathers had additional private talks.

This seems supported by something Anna later wrote. “A few weeks after the ATI conference, my dad and I were running an errand together,” Anna recalled. “While we were driving home, he asked me if there were any young men God had been speaking to me about.”

Her father had never asked her that before, but she understood what he meant. “I told him how I felt God speaking to my heart about Joshua,” she said. To her surprise, her dad agreed that he believed Josh was the one for her.

He told her to pray for Josh and his family every day. “About a week later we had special company,” the account stated. Even before knowing details, she felt he was the one.

“Well, don’t say anything, let’s just pray about it and wait,” her father advised. “We didn’t drop any hints to the Duggar family at all; we just prayed and were quiet, and God did a work in Josh’s heart.” The special company was Josh himself.

With Jim Bob telling Josh it might be possible and Mike telling Anna he believed Josh was right for her, the parents had essentially given their blessing even before the couple did. Back to Josh, who showed up at Anna’s home. He had called the Kellers earlier saying he would be in their area for one day to buy a truck for his dealership and asked if he could stay with them.

They enjoyed fellowship, and he had a place to stay while spending more time with Anna. “Just before they left, Joshua was talking to my mom,” Anna recalled. “He told her that he was excited about starting his business and was looking for a house, trying to get ready for a family of his own,” she said. “When I heard that, my heart jumped.”

It was difficult to wait patiently for God’s timing. “I constantly reminded myself that I needed to trust God with my future and let Him dictate every sentence of it,” Anna noted. Josh returned to Arkansas and poured his energy into his business and preparing financially for marriage and family.

Months passed. In December 2007, a year after Oprah’s team learned about Josh, Anna’s brother called and asked if Josh wanted to come to Florida to help with an anger resolution seminar at the Florida State Prison. Josh eagerly agreed and drove nearly a thousand miles to North Florida.

Little did he know that in fifteen years he would be serving a twelve-and-a-half-year sentence at a federal prison in Seagoville, Texas. Josh spent his first week in Florida helping with prison seminars alongside Anna’s brother. Afterward, they returned to the Keller home.

“I could not wait any longer; I knew that the ball was in my court,” Josh recalled. “After dinner and after sharing the evening with the family, I asked to talk to Mr. Keller alone.” Everyone else went to bed, and Josh struggled to find the right words.

“Finally, I got it out: ‘I feel like God is leading me into a relationship with your daughter Anna. Could I have your permission to court her?’” Mr. Keller offered encouraging words and said he needed a month to pray about it. What is interesting is Mr. Keller’s initial reaction requiring a month of prayer.

This stood in contrast to how he had told his daughter weeks after meeting the Duggars that he believed Josh was the one. Why the hesitation? Was there a change of heart?

It is clear from accounts that the Duggars had come clean about Josh’s behavior to some degree. “I knew about this long before it hit the press,” Anna said. “Not long after Josh and I first met, our family went to Arkansas and visited Joshua’s family.”

While there, Joshua shared his life story, including the good and the bad. But it is likely the full, unfiltered truth was not shared right away or in complete honesty. Who wants to begin a new friendship by revealing serious issues with their son?

First impressions matter, and the Duggars probably waited for the right moment. What exactly did they tell the Kellers? “As I became a teenage young man, I was constantly tempted to have lots of wrong thoughts and often battled to keep my heart right,” Josh shared.

One of the greatest helps was his parents’ commitment to accountability. “They were faithful to talk with each one of their children if we were willing to share honestly and openly with them,” he said. “To maintain a clear conscience, I learned quickly that great freedom can be achieved by accountability and great accountability requires humility and openness,” Josh continued.

“I often had failures in my early teenage years but found I had a clear conscience only when I was willing to confess my thoughts and temptations quickly to God and my parents.” On the topic of Duggar accountability, it is one thing for Josh to confess to his parents, but Jim Bob and Michelle’s version of accountability fell far short.

We already saw how Jim Bob handled it with his friend Jim Holt by taking Josh to a personal friend on the police force instead of making a proper report. Josh received only a warning when it should have been reported to the child abuse hotline. Another example came in 2006 when real police asked Jim Bob to bring Josh in for questioning after Oprah’s team reported the email.

Reports stated he tried to hire a lawyer and refused to produce his son. At least two lawyers declined the case. That does not sound like true accountability.

Even years later, when the full story finally reached the public, the information released was still minimized. At the end of the day, it is doubtful the Kellers received the complete, honest picture of Josh’s problems. Based on the Duggars’ history, a full unvarnished truth seems unlikely.

But somewhere along the line, the Kellers learned some version of events. Even then, Mr. Keller showed hesitation at first. The day after telling Josh he needed a month to pray, Josh woke up and the family had breakfast.

Mr. Keller wanted to speak with him about his decision. “I went to bed and I guess sleep came sometime that night because I remember waking up,” Josh recalled. “Mr. Keller pulled me aside after breakfast and told me that he had prayed about it.”

Though he would not say yes outright, he gave Josh a thumbs up and said, “All the lights are green.” At some point, Anna’s parents had been told some details about Josh’s past, though probably not everything. When did Anna learn about it?

According to a source cited by People magazine who was allegedly close to Anna, she did know something had happened and that her family was aware. But it was not presented in its full scope, and she did not grasp the complete picture. It was something minimized and not treated as a major issue.

Even if she had known the full extent, would it have changed her decision? Perhaps, but given IBLP teachings, the wisdom booklets, and her father’s belief in the “umbrella of protection,” he thought Josh was right for her. What was she supposed to do?

It likely would have been different if her parents had expressed strong reservations and advised against the relationship. In her world, everyone seemed happy about the union: her parents, his parents, their families, and in her eyes, God. There has been online speculation that one possible reason, perhaps unconscious, was the financial difference between the two families.

Was Mike thinking this was best for his daughter because the Duggars had downplayed Josh’s issues? Maybe he also saw that his daughter would be financially secure. In his mind, that may have helped him overlook other serious concerns.

The Duggars were a wealthy Christian family. Not only had Jim Bob convinced TLC to help fund their large home upgrade, but over time the family reportedly earned around eighteen million dollars from the show. The Kellers, by comparison, came from more modest means.

You can even hear a hint of superiority in Josh’s tone when describing where the Kellers lived. “They kind of live in the middle of nowhere,” Josh said. “I didn’t really know Florida had a nowhere, but when I went to her family’s house, I realized that there was a nowhere,” he continued.

With blessings from both sets of parents and what they believed was God’s will, Josh had permission to court Anna. “Y’all wondering why we’ve called this meeting? Well, I think Josh has some news for us this morning,” Jim Bob announced. “I’m going to fly out to Florida to propose to Anna,” Josh said.

The video of Josh proposing to Anna has drawn mixed reactions online. Many find it unsettling. Anna backs away from him with wide eyes, which some interpret as fear rather than surprise.

He practically has to pull her toward him, saying, “Come here.” No woman excited to marry a man typically jumps away like that. That is open to individual interpretation about whether Anna truly wanted the marriage.

According to Anna, she was excited. “When my parents said they wanted to take me out for my birthday, I had no idea what was really going on,” she said. She was so focused on an upcoming trip to Arkansas that she did not notice how nervous her parents seemed as they left for the restaurant.

A few minutes after being seated and looking at the menu, she heard a young man say, “Happy Birthday, Anna.” “I looked up and I was shocked to see Joshua standing there with a dozen ‘Happy Birthday, I love you’ balloons,” she recalled. “I was so excited and so nervous all at the same time.”

A few minutes later, Joshua got down on one knee and proposed. She said yes.

Ex-members of IBLP have explained that in their culture, women are not really allowed to say no when a man expresses interest. If a man says he wants you, he is considered God’s choice, and the woman is expected to adjust her feelings. “He proposed and I said yes,” Anna stated. “Saving that first kiss for your wedding day is like really special, and I hope that it inspires others to consider that as well.”

In just a few short months, Anna would be married. The engagement period lasted only three months. Anna had been preparing for the role of wife essentially since childhood.

To prepare even more, she turned to her mother for guidance. “My mom and I were also able to spend a lot of time together talking about marriage and being a wife and mother,” she said. “It was a great time to learn and prepare for the future.”

By age twenty, Anna had been thoroughly shaped by Bill Gothard’s teachings. Like other fundamentalist groups, followers were expected to avoid alcohol and drugs. Gothard’s rules were extreme, teaching that violating them would bring direct punishment from God.

Dancing, dating, and reading anything outside approved materials were forbidden. Jinger Duggar left IBLP in 2017 and spoke about her experiences. She described Gothard’s teachings as based on fear and superstition.

“You were always questioning what God expects of you,” Jinger explained. “The fear kept me crippled with anxiety; I was terrified of the outside world.” She believed she had to wear only skirts and dresses to please God.

“If I step outside of what I think is expected of me, I would think God’s going to be so displeased with me and it could bring harm onto myself,” she said. Fear defined much of her childhood. Even leaving the house for a family outing could make her anxious that she was disobeying God.

“I thought I could be killed in a car accident on the way because I didn’t know if God wanted me to stay home and read the Bible instead,” Jinger recalled. She called Gothard’s principles harmful and described IBLP as cult-like. Many families joined early on because Gothard promised guaranteed success.

“If you follow his seven principles, then your life will be a success, and if you don’t, he said that your life would be one disaster after another,” Jinger stated. She grew up believing God was waiting to punish any small misstep. “I was terrified at one point when somebody turned on music with drums and I was like shaking because I thought we’re for sure going to get in a car accident and die because he taught that,” she said.

It is the kind of fear-based control that creates constant anxiety and confusion. Everything Jinger described likely mirrored Anna’s own upbringing, thoughts, and feelings almost exactly. With blessings from her mother, her father, and what they believed was God, Anna and Josh married, and Anna was overjoyed.

She had found the man God intended for her. She was excited to begin adult life with her “Prince Charming” and live out her own fairy tale. What she did not realize was that a nightmare was waiting just around the corner.

Millions watched the first Duggar child marry his first love, Anna. While both families came from large households, the couple left the number of children they would have up to God. After the wedding, the newlyweds moved to Josh’s hometown in Springdale, Arkansas.

Anna worked alongside him at his used car dealership. By all public accounts, things appeared to be going well. Their first year of marriage in 2008 passed quickly.

In April 2009, they announced on The Today Show that they were expecting their first child. In October 2009, Anna gave birth to a baby girl named Mackynzie. By 2010, she was pregnant again, but sadly suffered a miscarriage.

In June 2011, they welcomed their second child, a baby boy named Michael. In March 2013, they announced they were expecting their third child. By this point, five years into marriage with two children and another on the way, everything seemed fine on the surface.

Behind the scenes, however, Josh had decided that his picture-perfect married life was not as fulfilling as he had hoped. Everyone, including his parents and IBLP teachings, had convinced him that marriage alone would cure his urges. This was a deeply flawed assumption.

This young man should have received professional help immediately when his behavior first surfaced at a young age. It is no surprise that marriage to Anna did not resolve his issues. Five years into the marriage, in February 2013, one month before announcing the third pregnancy, Josh opened his first account on the infamous Ashley Madison website.

This was a site designed for married people seeking affairs. According to data later released by hackers, Josh paid an initial fee of 249 dollars for an “affair guarantee” feature. The service promised to increase chances of an affair or refund the money.

Between February 2013 and May 2015, Josh maintained an active account and spent a total of 986.76 dollars. Ironically, three months after creating the account, Washington came calling for Josh. His unsuspecting and pregnant wife Anna believed they were building a good life.

The conservative Family Research Council wanted a fresh face to reach younger audiences. They chose twenty-five-year-old Josh Duggar, new to Washington politics. Josh, Anna, and their three children packed up and moved to D.C. for his new role.

He worked there for about two years, from 2013 until May 2015. He might have stayed longer and pursued a political path like his father. In May 2015, Josh stepped down amid a media storm after reports surfaced about his past actions with minors, including his sisters.

The story became national news. People were shocked, and sponsors quickly began pulling support from the show. Jim Bob and Michelle tried damage control by appearing on Megyn Kelly’s show with family members, including two of the daughters, Jessa and Jill.

They wanted to calm the public. Yet after eight years of minimizing Josh’s actions with authorities, Jim Bob once again minimized them publicly. He essentially used his daughters as shields to protect Josh and downplay the severity.

“It was actually a sealed juvenile record,” Jim Bob said. “They had told us that all this stuff was done as a juvenile; this was all stuff that was sealed,” he continued. “This is stuff that under law there’s no way that this could ever be brought out.”

Jill showed strength and was not one to stay silent. She was the one who fought back the night Josh tried something with her. “Did you fight?” Megyn Kelly asked. “No, girls, we didn’t even know about it until he went and confessed it to my parents,” one daughter responded.

“Either way he shared it with us,” they said. “No, none of the victims were aware of what I did.” The interview felt somewhat scripted.

It did little to help their cause because TLC eventually cut ties with the Duggar parents a few months later. On August 19, 2015, Gawker published an article titled “Family Values Activist Josh Duggar Had a Paid Ashley Madison Account.” This triggered a wave of stories revealing that twenty-seven-year-old Josh had maintained a paid account on a site for married people seeking affairs.

The news shattered the image of the perfect family and seemingly perfect marriage, both publicly and for Anna. Anna was devastated. “Who would write something like this?” Anna wondered. “My first reaction really was denial and just like, you know, I was really hurt that someone would think that about my husband.”

She truly believed their marriage was strong. “But I knew that my only hope was to cling to my faith because I know if I went off of what I was feeling, I would turn a mess into a disaster,” she said. That was not even the worst part.

The most painful aspect was that Anna blamed herself for much of it. This was likely tied to the skewed teachings she had absorbed from IBLP. After the news broke, Josh released a statement.

“I have been the biggest hypocrite ever,” Josh stated. “While espousing faith and family values, I have secretly over the last several years been viewing pornography on the internet and this became a secret addiction and I became unfaithful to my wife.” He expressed deep shame for the double life he had led.

“I am grieved for the hurt, pain, and disgrace my sins have caused my wife and my family, and most of all Jesus,” he said. He acknowledged bringing hurt and reproach to his family, friends, and fans through actions from when he was fourteen and fifteen. “Now I have rebroken their trust,” Josh admitted.

He had publicly fought against immorality while hiding his own failures. “As I am learning the hard way, we have the freedom to choose our actions, but we do not get a choice in our consequences,” he said. He deeply regretted hurting so many people by being a poor example.

“I humbly ask for your forgiveness; please pray for my precious wife Anna and our family during this time,” he concluded. Josh almost immediately entered a long-term treatment program. A few months into his stay, on January 23, 2016, Anna released her own statement.

“Many have asked how I’m doing; so many have asked that it’s actually humbling and touching,” Anna wrote. 2015 had been the hardest year of her life. “Amazingly, I found that in my own life crisis, God has drawn near to me,” she said. “He’s near to the brokenhearted—Psalms 34:18—and my faith has been more precious to me than ever before.”

She had recently visited Josh. It was an important step on a long, difficult road. “I want to thank all of you for your prayers and your messages of hope,” she wrote. “I can never express how your kindness and prayers have brought encouragement when I needed it most.”

The support outweighed the grief and discouragement. “I trust that God will continue to show His love and tenderness towards us and bring beauty from ashes somehow as only He can do,” Anna said. She asked for continued prayers for herself, Josh, and their children.

Josh’s statement made it sound as though he had only been viewing adult pornography. If that were true, why pay for an Ashley Madison account with a guaranteed affair? Why not simply browse freely online?

It did not add up. After the news broke, three women came forward claiming affairs with him. One anonymous woman said she had a pregnancy scare after an encounter, but nothing further developed.

Another anonymous woman, a porn star, claimed an experience with Josh. A third, adult performer Danica Dillon, alleged he had been rough during their encounter. TMZ later reported she admitted the story was untrue.

By this time, Anna was a mother of four, caring for her children alone while her husband was in treatment. Josh stayed in the residential program for seven months. In March 2016, the Duggars announced he had completed it.

“Josh has completed his residential rehabilitation program; we are so thankful for everyone who worked with Josh in this program,” they stated. It was described as a crucial first step in his recovery and healing. He returned to Arkansas to continue counseling and focus on rebuilding family relationships.

“We look to God for help and guidance and place all of our trust in Him,” the family said. They remained grateful for the love and prayers from so many. After Anna’s devastating 2015, she likely wanted to put the past behind her and look toward brighter days.

This felt like a fresh start and a complete reset. Not only was their TLC show gone, but so was their life in Washington politics. Without that job, Josh’s political ambitions ended.

He returned to Arkansas and resumed work at his car dealership. Josh and Anna kept a relatively low public profile for the next few years, and Anna probably believed things were improving. Anna had two more children, and life appeared stable.

Somewhere along the way, a monitoring program called Covenant Eyes was installed on Josh’s computer. It was designed to track internet activity for those struggling with pornography addiction. Anna served as his accountability partner and received reports on his online behavior.

By all appearances, Anna felt reassured about his activities. She likely thought there was greater transparency in their marriage and that they had turned a corner. Transparency is important in any relationship, until it is not.

What she did not know was that Josh had found a way around the system. He installed a Tor browser that allowed access to the dark web. This let him browse without detection.

He probably believed he had outsmarted everyone. Fortunately, the Department of Homeland Security began investigating Josh after recovering his computer in Arkansas during a 2019 search. The investigation took several years.

On April 29th, Josh was arrested on federal charges for receiving and possessing child sexual abuse material. His bail conditions required him to live in a home with no minors present. He stayed with family friends Maria and LaCount Reber, and Anna brought the children for visits.

People questioned why she continued to stand by him. Even throughout the trial, before and after his conviction, Anna remained loyal. She believed he was innocent and stayed by his side.

Anna has reportedly been living in a warehouse on Jim Bob and Michelle’s family compound in Arkansas while Josh serves his sentence. Why didn’t her own parents encourage her to leave? Why did she stay with the Duggars?

It is likely because the Duggars have greater financial resources to support a family of eight. How would she provide for herself and seven children on her own? An anonymous insider has claimed that Anna remains in complete denial about Josh’s crimes and refuses to listen to anyone trying to convince her otherwise.

What seems most upsetting to many observers is a quote attributed to Anna: “He’s so helpful with diaper changes and bath time, he doesn’t mind doing it.” “I’ve lost even more respect for her than I already had,” one person commented. “She’s complicit; I understand she’s in a cult, but at this point she is putting a pedo above her children,” they continued.

She supports him, believes he is innocent, and is therefore complicit. She must feel helpless. Her IBLP upbringing and teachings likely left her without the tools to navigate this tragedy.

Jill Duggar explained it best: “Having a voice about what you think and how you feel and being able to voice and say no about things was stifled and not encouraged in the IBLP and in my family.” Women in that group are not allowed to hold authority over themselves.

They must have a male authority figure. In Anna’s case, that would now come from Josh (even from prison), her father, or Jim Bob. “God ordained it all; Josh becomes the authority at the wedding and at least becomes her authority, not me,” Jim Bob said. “That’s the way God designed the transfer of authority.”

We already know Jim Bob’s primary loyalty is to Josh. Reports suggest Anna’s father is even stricter in IBLP beliefs than Jim Bob. Though he has not spoken publicly, it would not be surprising if he opposed divorce.

As for Josh, it seems Anna is still influenced by his wishes even while he is incarcerated. According to reports, Josh does not want Anna and the children moving away from his family. He believes it would create too much disconnection.

Josh wants only Anna and his immediate family guiding his children. He also fears that if Anna spends time away from the Duggar family, she might be influenced to leave him. That is a significant factor.

The closer Anna stays to the Duggars, the more likely they are to convince her to remain with Josh. They will tell her it is the best choice. Things may be reaching a breaking point.

It was rumored in June 2023 that Anna may have gone against the “umbrella of protection” because Jim Bob reportedly kicked her off the property after an argument. There have been whispers that she blames Jim Bob and Michelle for Josh’s current situation.

Perhaps there is tension, or maybe she is beginning to realize she needs space and her own voice away from Jim Bob. But she may be moving from one controlling situation to another. It is possible her desire to move coincides with wanting to be closer to Josh in Texas.

For now, many hope she finds the strength to see that she and her children deserve better. She could build a life on her own without Josh and without the Duggars. It will likely take time.

It may require years of unlearning and healing from everything the IBLP taught her.