Amy (Duggar) King Tearfully Reveals the Man Who Allegedly Physically Abused Her
Amy (Duggar) King is opening up about the traumatic moment from her childhood.
In an exclusive sneak peek at Friday evening’s episode of Marriage Boot Camp: Reality Stars, King relives the moment during her childhood when a family member allegedly physically abused her — and reveals the identity of the man behind the scary event.
“My dad was like, ‘Amy, did you brush your teeth?’ And I was like, ‘Yeah daddy.’ And he was like, ‘No you didn’t.’ And he picked me up by my throat, all the way up to the ceiling. He was like, ‘You will brush your teeth,’ ” says King, who reveals that the man behind the attack was her father. “And I was scared s***less.”
Up until now, Amy, who married her husband, Dillon King, in September 2015 in a country-chic wedding near Bentonville, Arkansas, has kept the identity of the man a secret. Amy is also the niece of TLC’s 19 Kids and Counting stars Michelle Duggar and Jim Bob Duggar.
“Amy’s coping mechanism is to pretend that everything is always happy in her world,” Dr. Venus Nicolino explains in the clip. “It’s how she blocks out the trauma she faced in her childhood.”
Amy added that she saw “things flown in the air, I’ve been called every name in the book,” and said, with tears welling up in her eyes, that her father “tried to run me over with a car. It scared me half out of my mind.”
Stopping by PEOPLE Now in early January, Amy opened up about the traumatic childhood event, which was referenced on a supertease for season 7 of the show.
“I can’t say who it is, but I can say, on the show I did forgive them,” Amy told PEOPLE Now. “It was a very heartfelt moment where I actually forgave that person who hurt me when I was younger.”
“So, it was a family member,” she added. “I love the person very much and we’re better now. But I did need to heal from that.”
After the clip was released, Amy said that her relationship with Dillon was impacted, as fans thought it was her husband who physically hurt her.
“We got hate mail and all kinds of stuff,” Dillon admitted. “It exploded.”
“It was crazy,” Amy chimed in. “People were like, ‘Amy run. Run away from him. Divorce him now. he’s going to abuse you, you don’t need that.’ ”
Ultimately, Amy took to social media to address the clip’s backlash and clear the air about her husband. “The story I was describing in the Marriage Bootcamp teaser does not involve Dillon in any way. #Ilovemyhusband,” she tweeted.
Marriage Boot Camp: Reality Stars airs Fridays (9 p.m. ET) on WEtv.
