While disgraced TV personality Josh Duggar, 35, is currently serving a 12-year prison sentence for a child pornography conviction, his cousin Amy Duggar, 36, spoke out about the matter during a new interview with Vanity Fair on Jun. 28. During the candid conversation, the niece of Jim Bob and Michelle Duggar revealed that she was “pissed” at her family for not speaking to her about the molestation accusations against Josh prior to the world finding out first.
“I was pissed,” Amy told the outlet. “I felt like I wasn’t worth telling … that they didn’t want to protect me. They didn’t want anyone to know, [and] they wanted to keep it inside their little bubble. Secrets breed in the IBLP [The Institute in Basic Life Principles]. Things are hidden.” More so, the 36-year-old revealed that when the news broke regarding the allegations that Josh had molested four of his sisters, she found out “like the rest of the world.”
At the time that the molestation accusations became public in 2015, Amy said that she confronted Josh face-to-face. “He was staying in a trailer and I went in there and I said, ‘How could you do this? … And I was very bold about that,” she explained to the outlet on Wednesday. She also claimed that her cousin did not try to get “physically” involved with her because “he knew better.” The outlet also reported that Amy believes that Josh chose to “prey upon girls who wouldn’t speak out against him.” She also attributed the IBLP “ideology” to “absolutely” empowering his actions.
Amy made sure to express her thoughts on how the IBLP institution values the eldest son in a family unit. “The IBLP prizes the first child, [and] it doesn’t get much better than if it’s a son. They hold the family name and the family value,” Amy shared. “If you’re valued from the moment you’ve been born and people hide your secrets and cover up things, and you never get in trouble for the things that you’re doing, I believe you just become numb to how the world really is, and how the law really is. It’s so sad how far it was taken, where he thought he could get away with anything.” The father-of-seven is notably the eldest child of Jim Bob and Michelle.
Josh’s cousin made it clear that she thinks her aunt and uncle’s actions of covering up their son’s actions is “cringe-worthy” and “evil.” Amy later called their ideology a “disgusting” one. “To think that someone holds a higher value than someone else is just so disgusting,” she said. In fact, the former 19 Kids and Counting star claimed that her cousin’s recent scandal was her “last straw” with her family and the IBLP. “My last straw was the last scandal with Josh. I can’t imagine protecting a predator,” she said. “I think that is the lowest of low, [and] there’s no going back.”
Amy appears in the new documentary, Shiny Happy People, which takes a closer look at the scandals involving the Duggar family. The proud mother also explained that she has cut ties with her aunt, uncle, and cousins. “I looked around and my mom and I were like ‘Who is speaking out? Who is saying how wrong this is?’ And really, there weren’t many who were,” she said toward the end of the interview. “It was just like, ‘Do we close our eyes and act like it’s not happening?’ Or do we say, ‘It’s happening and here’s the atomic bomb,’ and let the pieces fall where they may?”