Courtesy of Jill Duggar/Instagram; Getty
Jill Duggar Opens Up on Anna Duggar Relationship After ‘Counting the Cost’ Release: Give Her ‘Space’
Jill Duggar is telling all amid the release of her new memoir, Counting the Cost, including opening up about where she stands with brother Josh Duggar’s wife, Anna Duggar, following his arrest on child pornography charges.
“We have not been in contact with Anna,” Jill, 32, shared in a conversation with Access Hollywood on Wednesday, September 13. “I have seen her on a few occasions, but I also want to respect. I know she’s asked for some space, so we want to respect that as well.”
The TLC personality emphasized she was giving the mother of seven her “space” after her older brother was sentenced to more than 12 years in federal prison in May 2022.
“I think when you are learning to set boundaries in your own life, you also learn to respect other people’s boundaries,” she continued. “So, I cannot imagine all that she’s going through.”
When asked why she thought Anna, 35, has stayed by Josh’s side, the Counting On alum replied, “I have no idea why Anna has decided to stay with Josh, and what she is dealing with there and everything.”
“I have no idea, and I’m just, I guess, watching with everybody else, kind of just what unfolds,” the TLC personality continued.
Jill’s older brother Josh, 35, was initially arrested and taken into police custody in April 2021 and was charged with one count of possessing and one count of receiving child pornography. He pleaded not guilty but was later convicted of both counts in December 2021, with the possession conviction eventually being dismissed.
He was sentenced in May 2022 and is now serving his 12.5-year prison sentence at the Federal Correctional Facility (FCI) Seagoville in Texas.
Six years prior to the scandal, Josh was also involved in an Ashley Madison data hack — which was a website for people who are looking for partners with whom to engage in extramarital affairs — and was exposed as having an account on the site in 2015. He admitted to having a paid subscription and issued a public apology to his wife. He then checked himself into a rehabilitation facility, which his family labeled as a “long-term treatment center” in a statement published on their family blog at the time.
Anna and Josh have remained married as he serves his prison sentence, however, a source told In Touch in January that the Florida native was “questioning their future.”
“She took her wedding vows seriously and she wants to stand by her man and all that, but the reality of her situation is very difficult,” the insider said. “[She’s] trying to stay positive, but it’s not easy. … [She] wants Josh by her side, as a husband and as a father to their children,” but that “isn’t physically possible for now, or the near future.”
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