Is Grandma Mary the Kris Jenner of the Duggars? We Have Theories

While watching 19 Kids and Counting or Counting On, you've probably seen Mary "Grandma" Duggar. She's normally in the background hauling laundry baskets around, sweeping the floors, or babysitting her dozens of grandchildren. In fact, for years fans have felt a little sorry for her. After the passing of her husband, Jim Lee Duggar, Mary moved into the Duggar compound full time. Her room was a tiny guest suite right off the laundry room where she dutifully did load after load of laundry for her 20+ member family.

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Although Mary no longer lives in the house now and has moved into a cabin on the Duggars' acreage, the general assumption about Grandma Duggar is that she's some poor old lady being taken advantage of by her son and his wife, aka Jim Bob and Michelle Duggar. But how true is that? Sure, Mary does a lot of housework and is always babysitting the little ones, but behind the scenes the woman is a clever businesswoman who is, perhaps, responsible for the Duggars' rise to fame. Is it possible she's the Duggar's Kris Jenner? Below, a few theories for why we think this may be true.

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Overworked babysitter? Nope, she's a savvy real estate broker.

Although on the show Mary is often seen shuffling around in the background while hauling a load of laundry, she's actually so much more than just a typical Duggar wife who's handcuffed to the house. Before she retired, she was a real estate broker who owned and ran an ice cream shop. She still owns several rental properties in her name, one of which is the current home of Jessa Duggar and her husband, Ben Seewald.

Jim Bob earns most of his income via rent from commercial properties. Many suspect Mary not only taught him the real estate ropes but also helped him out when he and Michelle were struggling financially during their early years.

"Grandma Duggar was a huge help," Michelle wrote in The Duggars: 20 and Counting. "She and Jim Bob’s dad lived close by, and she would flutter in and flutter out throughout the day whenever she could get away from her own real estate work."

She plays the part of a full-time nanny on the show, but she's actually a PR mastermind.

On the show, Mary mostly stays in the background, but she actually plays a bigger role to the show's success than viewers realize. Anonymous commenter "Alice," who first revealed the Josh Duggar molestation scandal seven years before In Touch Weekly did, claimed it was Mary who was on the phone calling TV stations to get the Duggars on television. "[Jim Bob] and his mother 'Mary' has this all figured out," she wrote. "She is fame hungry and she couldn’t manage this for herself and now she is helping out Jim Bob and Michelle. She calls different TV shows and exploits her grandchildren. This is the Duggars' way of making a living and providing for the huge family."

In addition to gaining TV coverage, Alice also alleged that Mary was the one calling companies to get free items and sponsorships for their home. "Mary and Josh [Duggar] were on the phone day and night asking for donations from soup to computers," she wrote. "They also received a Baby Grand Piano from Campbell Soup Co." Sounds like she's a hustler.

Her religious views aren't as extreme as the Duggars'.

In Growing Up Duggar, the daughters tell a story about how Mary became a Christian at the age of 15 despite living in a family full of atheists. In the end, she managed to convert two stubborn family members, and the story is wrapped up as the picture-perfect tale about the importance of unwavering faith. However, there's a big difference between average Christianity and the ATI-slanted version that the Duggars follow. In ATI, women are taught that their place is at home under the authority of their husbands or fathers. But judging by Mary's behavior on the show, she seems way too savvy and smart to believe that.

In one old episode of 19 Kids and Counting, the kids all gather around a TV to watch Jim Bob and Michelle appear on an episode of The View. When the show starts, Joy-Anna starts covering the screen with her hands. When a producer asks Mary what Joy-Anna is doing, she replies, "She's covering up the immodest dress. She's been trained to do that." Yikes — we think that's a polite way of saying she doesn't fully agree with Jim Bob's methods.

Let's not forget the time she and Cousin Amy weaseled thousands of dollars from a producer.

Grandma Mary finally got a chance to leave the laundry room when Cousin Amy got two spin-off shows, A Duggar Leaves Home and Amy’s Nashville Dreams. However, producer Jamie Slocum told Radar that neither Amy, Mary, or Mary's daughter, Deanna, paid him his cut. According to Jamie, he negotiated the Duggars' salary from $3,500 per episode to $20,000 per episode. But when he asked for his cut for, you know, doing his job, the Duggars weren't having it.

"They basically decided to tell me to take a hike after I doubled their fee," he said. "They just basically said we don't have to pay you and we thought you were just trying to be a good guy." Although she didn't get the full $20,000, Grandma Mary apparently walked away from the whole snafu making a cool $6,000 per episode. Not bad for some "poor, old" grandma.

And most importantly, she wears pants!

Unlike the other ladies of the Duggar family, Mary watches TV, wears pants, and only had two kids. Her late husband also famously mentioned on the show that Jim Bob and Michelle had too many children and should stop having kids. We think all these facts illustrate the real Mary we don't see on TV. Is it possible she's been the Kris Jenner of the Duggar clan this whole time instead of some dutiful grandma-bot? You have to admit, it does make you think.