MANILA, Philippines – The parents of TV star Josh Duggar have spoken up after reports of their son Josh’s molestation of young girls came out in the media.
In the first part of two interviews aired Fox News, Jim Bob and Michelle Duggar recalled the time Josh approached them about what he did.
Online, Josh previously acknowledged molesting five female teens – including some of his 9 sisters – albeit long before their hit show about their family, 19 Kids and Counting, came into being.
“Twelve years ago, we went through one of the darkest times that our family has gone through. And our son Josh came to us on his own and he was crying. And he just turned 14 and he said that he improperly touched some of our daughters,” Jim said.
“We were shocked,” Michelle added. “We were devastated. I don’t think any parent is prepared for a trauma like that.”
“I think we had one way of hope that Josh had a tender conscience and he was the one who came and shared on his own even if the others didn’t know anything.”
Meanwhile, as reported by Entertainment Weekly, Jim said the act was not rape. “This was not rape or anything like that,” he said. “It was touching someone over the clothes. It was, like, a few seconds, and then he came to us and crying told us what happened … as parents you feel like a failure when one of your kids does something wrong. If I had done more training this wouldn’t have happened. The truth is, kids will make their own choices, even though you have taught them right or wrong.”
Jim said that following the incident, he and Michelle devoted their time to check on Josh.
“We put all kind of punishments. We watched him all the time. I took him to work with me, we just poured our life into him.”
The Duggar couple admitted that their daughters were shocked after the issue came out in the media.
“It crushed them at first. No victim wants their minor story to be told. Every victim should have the right to tell their own story. Not a tabloid,” Jim said.
Last May, online petitions and bloggers called for the family’s show to be canceled after Josh admitted he molested several young girls. He has since acknowledged his mistake in a statement on the Family’s official Facebook page. –Rappler.com
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