Jinger Duggar and Jeremy Vuolo are digging into the past to find answers about Joseph Duggar’s arrest.
A month after Jinger’s younger brother was arrested on charges of child molestation—for which he pleaded not guilty—she and her husband reflected on the “dangerous” theology that was part of the Duggar family upbringing while detailing the legal troubles her family members have faced.
“In light of recent headlines and everything we’ve seen with your brother Joe, which has reopened some wounds of past experiences, past headlines, there’s a question that keeps coming up and I think rightly so,” Jeremy, 38, told his wife in an April 22 episode of their eponymous podcast. “We don’t have every answer for that. We were just as caught off guard with that news as anyone else.”
But while they expressed shock at Joseph’s arrest, Jinger and Jeremy—who share three children—alluded to its similarity to the 2021 arrest of Jinger’s older brother Josh Duggar. (Josh, who was revealed to have sexually abused several of his younger sisters as a teenager in 2015, is currently serving 12 years in federal prison after being convicted of receiving child sex abuse material.)
And the couple considered how the Duggar family’s religious upbringing could have led to negative consequences.
“We’ve been very outspoken together about the dangerous theology of Bill Gothard and the Institute of Basic Life Principles which was deeply impactful to your family,” Jeremy continued. “This is another opportunity to say it’s pivotal that we’re very careful with what we believe.”
Indeed, as Jinger, 32, nodded in agreement, Jeremy continued to emphasize the “devastating consequences” of Gothard and the IBLP’s principles, which the Duggar’s platformed in their original 19 Kids and Counting TLC reality series as their religious blueprint.
Jinger Duggar Vuolo/InstagramGothard stepped down from the IBLP in 2014 following allegations of sexual misconduct. In a statement at the time, he denied the more serious allegations of rape, but acknowledged some wrongdoing saying his behavior “crossed the boundaries of discretion.” Following allegations of perpetuating abuse in a 2023 documentary, the IBLP called the allegations “salacious” in a statement and said the “focus of this ministry is the Lord Jesus Christ and the practical truths found in Scripture, and not any single person or family.”
Jinger and Jeremy’s reevaluation of the Duggar family upbringing comes just over a month after they initially addressed Joseph’s arrest, and later his wife Kendra Duggar’s arrest for child endangerment in Arkansas, calling it “devastating.” (In addition to Joseph’s child molestation charges in Florida, both he and his wife, who share four kids, were charged with four counts each of endangering a minor in the second degree and child endangerment in their home state, for which they have not submitted a formal plea.)
“I did not think my heart could break like it has this week,” Jinger said in an abbreviated episode of her and her husband’s podcast March 25. “The pain and heartbreak that we’ve had over this and just thinking of how it’s affected so many. It’s just unthinkable. It’s so hard and painful on many levels.”
