Jessa Seewald and Jill Dillard opened up about the scandals that have rocked their family this year during the first part of a three-part special over the weekend, and they say that their brother Josh’s betrayal after he cheated on his wife Anna was extremely hard to live with.
Both girls were involved in the first scandal that garnered national attention back in May, when a police report was leaked to the world showing Josh’s involvement in the sexual molestation of Jessa, Jill, and other girls when he was 14 years old. Although they sat down for an interview with Megyn Kelly and said they had forgiven Josh, the damage was swiftly done to the Duggar family’s name, and their reality show, 19 Kids And Counting, was canceled from TLC’s lineup. The new show–Counting On–will give fans some closure and allow Jessa and Jill to talk about their side of what happened.
“Over the years, Josh worked really hard to repair our trust in him, and he became someone we could really look up to. Josh ended up confessing to us that he had gotten addicted to pornography and had been unfaithful to his wife, and we were devastated. It felt like it was just a bad dream. How could this happen?” Jessa said on the series.
Jessa and Jill both had a big year in 2015 outside of the scandals, as they are each newlyweds and both had their first children in recent months, and the show will reportedly feature much of their new lives as well as give them a chance to talk about what happened with Josh. For both sisters, the fact that such big life changes came at the same time as a huge betrayal was overwhelming.
“Here I am, most joyful time of my life, newly married [with a] baby on the way. And then people go digging up old bones. It was really, really frustrating,” Jessa Seewald said.
Jessa and Jill have been active on social media throughout the ordeal, keeping fans updated on their lives as they adjust to parenthood and as Jill and her husband Derick complete their missionary duties in Central America. For as many fans as the family reportedly pushed away with Josh’s scandal, the sisters appear to have retained most of theirs throughout the ordeal; Jessa’s Instagram posts of new baby Spurgeon have garnered thousands of “likes”.
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