Anna Duggar Divorce: Why Rumors About Josh’s Wife Are Likely Untrue

Anna Duggar is about to divorce Josh Duggar, if an anonymous source is to be believed. This tidbit of gossip recently went viral, but longtime Duggar watchers are skeptical of the claim that Anna has suddenly become a woman who would make such a bold decision. Her world has always been controlled by men, so the mother of four has no experience being independent and navigating life on her own.

The Daily Mail recently shared a few choice quotes from a juicy tabloid story claiming that Anna Duggar has changed her mind about working things out with Josh Duggar. According to the print edition of In Touch Weekly, Anna will consult with a divorce attorney in the near future, and she’s not just leaving her husband because he cheated on her; she’s also upset with her in-laws for trotting her out on TV to tell the world that she had forgiven Josh.

A supposed Duggar family insider told In Touch that Anna recently made “new friends” who made her see the light about Josh and his parents; their main concern is saving their family brand, not Anna’s well-being. It may be true that Anna’s in-laws don’t have her best interests at heart, but the divorce story is likely hogwash.

For one thing, Anna Duggar is a woman who was willing to marry Josh after learning that he had sexually molested his younger sisters. She told People that Josh convinced her that he had “changed his life” before she agreed to be his wife.

Anna Duggar was a student of the Advance Training Institute (ATI) homeschooling program created by Bill Gothard, a cult-like, fundamentalist Christian leader. According to Recovering Grace, one of Gothard’s “Wisdom Booklets” teaches girls that they’re to blame if they’re raped.

“If a woman doesn’t cry out when she’s raped, God holds her equally guilty with her attacker,” the booklet read.

There are many other ATI teaching materials that victim-blame and suggest that women may be responsible for men’s mistakes, especially those of the sexual variety, so there’s a good chance that Anna Duggar believes that she’s partly to blame for Josh Duggar’s infidelity. It’s hard to imagine Anna suddenly overcoming years of ATI indoctrination, especially when she has no one around to help her do so. It would also be incredibly difficult for a jobless, poorly educated woman like Anna to shed one of the only two titles that she was ever encouraged to obtain: wife and mother.

As the Daily Beast reports, Anna Duggar and other women who are raised on ATI are basically trained to be submissive to men, with their main goal in life to get married and become a man’s “helpmeet.” When Anna got married, her father transferred his authority over Anna to Josh. In other words, men have always run Anna’s life for her. She probably didn’t stop seeking guidance and instruction from Josh after he cheated on her, and she likely had no say in how he decided to handle his very public cheating scandal. It’s hard to imagine Anna being happy with his decision to fly to another state and hide away in a Christian treatment center for over half a year while she took care of an infant and their three other children.

Back in May, In Touch Weekly published a very different story about Josh and Anna Duggar. It quoted a source who claimed that Anna treated Josh like “a hero returning from war” when he came home from rehab and that she tried to lose weight for him while he was gone. The insider alleged that Anna thought Josh would be “less likely to cheat” if she changed her body. This is more believable than the tabloid’s divorce claim.

Here’s a very strong sign that Anna Duggar will do anything to avoid divorce: she actually tried to spin Josh’s infidelity into a positive thing. In a statement published on the Duggar Family Blog, she wrote that it brought her closer to God.

To see more evidence that Anna Duggar isn’t going to leave Josh, look no further than the Duggar family’s TLC series, Counting On. As Radar Online reports, Anna told the reality show’s cameras that she stayed in the girls’ room at Jim Bob and Michelle Duggar’s house while Josh was away at rehab, so she was constantly surrounded by a large group of people who had a vested interest in making sure that she didn’t leave the family.

After Josh came back, he and Anna didn’t move to a location where she would be far away from her in-laws’ influence. During the October 11 episode of Counting On, Jana Duggar revealed that the couple was living in a house near her family’s Arkansas compound. In the same episode, Anna admitted that she’s still very dependent on Josh’s family for emotional support and companionship.

“Jana has been such an encouragement and such a rock this past year of my life. She is such a treasure,” Anna said of Josh’s sister.

Because she’s a stay-at-home mom with four kids to tend to, isolated Anna likely doesn’t have much of a social life outside of her interactions with her in-laws. She probably also appreciates the free babysitting service that Josh’s sisters can provide whenever she and her husband need some time alone.

Speaking of which, the Inquisitr previously reported that Anna Duggar might be pregnant with her fifth child. Sadly, she may see another little “blessing” as the best salve to soothe her marital woes.

[Featured Image by Duggar Family Official/Facebook]