The shameful revelations about reality star Josh Duggar, 27, kept on coming until network TLC had no choice but to cancel his family’s hit show 19 Kids and Counting.
But child molestation and adultery accusations have not stopped the network going in for another bite of that cherry.
Its latest foray into the world of the Duggars Jill & Jessa: Counting On finds our evangelicals doing what they do best: procreating and praying.
Josh Duggar’s long-suffering wife Anna Duggar, 27, features in the latest episode. She speaks about how her husband’s long line of issues from child molestation to porn addiction and infidelity affected her.
Watch Anna Duggar discussing her marriage here… Post continues after video.
It “was definitely a hard thing” to go through, she said of learning that her husband had molested his sisters as children, been cheating on her through Ashley Madison and had sex with a porn star.
“I think it is such a betrayal for a spouse to go through what we’re walking through,” said the mother-of-four through tears.
“Not only was it a betrayal against me, but it was also a betrayal against those that call themselves Christian because here we were as a Christian couple. Everyone was able to see us get married and to vow before God to be loyal to each other, and that loyalty was broken. And so, for my heart, it was just broken.”
Yet, she says, Josh is her “first love. He’s my one and only”.
Josh Duggar confessed his misdeeds in August after his Ashley Madison account was uncovered, writing; “I have been the biggest hypocrite ever. 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 and am grieved for the hurt, pain and disgrace my sin has caused my wife and family, and most of all Jesus and all those who profess faith in Him.”
Of course, the faith of the Duggars forbids Anna Duggar from leaving her husband. Instead, she continues to stand by him as he undergoes “faith-based treatment”.
“I knew if I went off of what I was feeling, I would turn a mess into a disaster,” she said.
“In the stun and in the shock of everything, I was just praying, ‘God, help me to respond to all of this.’ I didn’t know what to do. I knew we needed help, and I was just praying God would give the wisdom and the help that we needed to take the next step.”