14 DAY TRIAL // As more reports are coming in on the “dire” financial situation of the Duggars, now that TLC canceled their reality show 19 Kids and Counting, the family has announced that 18-year-old Josiah Duggar has ended his formal courtship with 17-year-old Marjorie Jackson.
The family says that the decision has come from their understanding that this is the will of God, People Magazine reports. Commenters online see something very suspicious in the timing of the announcement.
But first things first.
Josiah and Marjorie are over, still friends
In the Duggar family, there is no such thing as dating, there is courting. Entering into formal courtship is like “dating with a purpose,” in the sense that the 2 spend time together in supervised settings, in view of getting married.
All public Duggar courtships have ended in marriage so far, so this is a first. The fact that it comes so soon after the eldest Duggar son, Josh, was publicly exposed as a child molester, can’t be a coincidence.
Police records obtained by the media under a Freedom of Information Act revealed that Josh molested at least 5 underage girls, back when he was just a teen. The family kept the details a secret even from competent authorities, which would explain why the blowback was so massive when word got out.
TLC canceled the Duggars’ show weeks later, when bosses understood there was no coming back from this. Admittedly, the Duggars are facing a $25 million (€22.9 million) loss in future earnings because of the cancelation.
“Both Josiah and Marjorie have enjoyed getting to know each other and to build their friendship over the past months,” the Duggars say. “We are so grateful that they each are seeking the Lord’s will for their future. A few weeks ago Marjorie and Josiah agreed to end their courtship, keeping in step with what they believe the Lord’s will is. Both are thankful for the time getting to know each other, and their families continue to enjoy each other’s company and close friendship.”
Crazy timing, right?
Because of the timing, there are several theories about what transpired behind closed doors, but by far the most popular one in the blogosphere is that Josiah’s courtship was arranged for the cameras.
Since there will be no reality show now to document the relationship, there’s no sense in keeping up appearances anymore. So, after waiting for a convenient period of time after the molestation scandal, the Duggars are announcing the “breakup.”
As a bonus, they’re getting a bit more publicity for themselves.
The other theory is that Marjorie must have called off the courtship some time ago. They entered into it one month before the Josh molestation scandal, so the pressure and the media attention must have been huge on an incipient relationship.
Celebrity pundits believe that the relationship was called off shortly after the scandal broke, but the Duggars kept it a secret for the obvious reason: that was not the time to address it. They’re doing it now because, as noted above, they’re strapped for cash and could use whatever media exposure then can get.
Here’s an older TLC video in which Josiah and Marjorie promised to let cameras in on their formal courtship. That’s Josh offering his youngest brother dating advice.
