14 DAY TRIAL // This summer’s Ashley Madison Leak exposed the eldest of the Duggar children, Josh Duggar, as a cheater. It was the second serious scandal he was involved in in under 3 months, after being previously exposed as a child molester, when details of an older case were made public.
The Duggars rose to fame thanks to their reality show on TLC, which helped them reach an international audience. They are devout Christians who live their life in accordance to a set of rules that could be deemed antiquated, which includes no kissing or holding hands before marriage, and no child prevention.
All this is relevant in being able to appreciate the magnitude of the scandal, which exposed Josh as both a child molester and a cheater.
Anna Duggar is no longer living in the family home
In the aftermath of the Ashley Madison Leak, many media outlets wondered what Anna Duggar, Josh’s wife and the mother of his 4 children, would do: would she divorce the man who had, in the space of only a few months, proved to her he was not the man she thought she married, or would she let her upbringing and the family force her into staying by his side?
Radar Online has learned that Anna will not be filing the divorce papers, but she did move out of the family home. Right now, Josh is in rehab, so her decision might be practical instead of rebellious.
Anna and the 4 kids have left the family’s Arkansas home and are now staying at her parents’ “woodsy retreat” in Florida, which is secluded enough to shield her from “prying eyes,” while the scandal blows over.
Anna’s parents might have supported her in moving out of the family home, but that’s as far as they go: they don’t want her to get a divorce and they believe she should stick by him.
Anna is of the same opinion, an insider says. “She’s looking forward to seeing him in a month or two when the first spousal visitation is allowed,” says a spy. “She just prays that he gets the help he needs so they can go on with their life together, despite everything he did to her.”
“For better or for worse”
Anna should stay with her husband, the Duggar supporters believe. Even if her own brother went on social media to urge her to leave “that pig” and get on with her life, she took a vow when she got married and she must respect it.
When the child molestation scandal began earlier this year, Anna said that she had known about the incidents in Josh’s teenage years (when he molested 4 of his sisters and another girl), because he informed her when they entered formal courtship.
She also promised that he was a changed man and had made amends for his mistakes, and that God and herself had forgiven him for them.
She did not issue a statement when he was exposed as a cheater who had paid to join the community of married men and women looking to have affairs with other married people. However, statements from both Josh and his parents, Jim Bob and Michelle, made it clear that she was sticking by him.