Josh Duggar’s Wife Speaks Out on Husband’s Sex Scandal
Sharing more about how her world was rocked in the wake of husband Josh Duggar’s admitted cheating and addiction to pornography, Anna Duggar admits she was initially in denial.
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“I was just like, ‘I’m gonna wake up and this is going to be OK,’” the 27-year-old mother of four reveals in a new clip from TLC’s upcoming three-part special Jill & Jessa: Moving On, previewed on Good Morning America Wednesday. “‘And this really,’” she continues, “‘this can’t be true.’”
STORY: How Josh Duggar’s Wife Should Explain Dad’s 'Double Life’ to Their Kids
But if his emails released in the Ashley Madison infidelity website hack this summer weren’t enough evidence, his confession days later was. Anna said the betrayal was “heartbreaking” when she first spoke out in November via video testimonial released by TLC.
“I have been the biggest hypocrite ever,” Josh, 27, confessed in his public mea culpa in August. “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. I am so ashamed of the double life that I have been living.”
(Photo: Instagram/Anna Duggar)
And he should be ashamed, his sister Jill Dillard declared in her video testimonial, also previewed on Wednesday. Alluding to her support of Josh following his scandal in May, when news broke about how he molested girls (including her and sister Jessa Seewald) as a teen, the new mom vented, “It wasn’t right for him to let us speak our words without having the full knowledge of what he was hiding.”
The fact that her brother — who eventually checked into faith-based rehab — deceived them made her “angry and hurt and all of those emotions mixed together,” she added. Seewald also chimed in, admitting in the footage that “life over the past four months has been pretty crazy for my family.”
Anna and Josh Duggar in happier days. (Photo: Getty Images)
But still, Dillard insisted in her remarks that she has hope for better days. “We will come out of this fire, so to speak, stronger as a family unit,” she said.
How Josh and Anna’s children — daughter Mackynzie, 5; sons Michael, 4, and Marcus, 2; and daughter Meredith Grace, 5 months — will fare depends on Anna, though, family therapist Paul Hokemeyer has told Yahoo Parenting. “Difficult emotions” will emerge throughout the rest of their lives from their father’s behavior, he explains. “These feelings will include shame, anger, resentment, fear, and disdain.” But “rather than putting on a happy face, which will teach her children to subrogate their feelings and develop false selves, [Anna] needs to show her children that negative emotions are a part of life and that they can be tolerated and used to a good outcome. Basically, she needs to model resilience for her children.” By admitting her hurt, as Anna does in her latest remarks, it seems she’s taken that first step.
(Top photo: TLC)
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