Anna Duggar Knew Josh Molested His Sisters: ‘Surprised By His Openness And Humility’

While the world reels from the news that the eldest Duggar son, Joshua, now 27, molested five minor females when he was 14, many are left wondering how his 26-year-old wife, Anna, is taking the news.

She’s not taking the news – Anna, now pregnant with her fourth child, already knew. The Duggar family never allows their children to date – they “court,” or date with the purpose to marry, so families begin to know each other well before a marriage occurs. Josh Duggar admits that he fondled the breasts and genitals of four of his sisters and one other minor female. He says he went to his parents and confessed, and that his father contacted police and church elders, but that’s where things get a little murky – he wasn’t arrested. His dad says he was sent to a rehab center, but his mother, Michelle, says that he was really sent to a family friend to do manual labor and build houses. Josh and his father both say that he and his victims received counseling, although it is unclear the nature or duration of that counseling.

It is also not known which of his sisters he molested. Sister Jill recently gave birth and sister Jessa is four months pregnant. Sister Jana has not officially courted and has been rumored to perhaps be wanting to take a different path that Jill and Jessa. We may have some insight now as to why that may be, but perhaps she was not affected. There are many unanswered questions, but one of them is not if Anna knew.

Anna knew and was willing to marry Josh Duggar and have children with him, one of them a female child, as is the child she is carrying. She has also released a statement to People, saying she knew about Josh molesting his sisters before they were married, adding that he received counseling after the molestations, which “changed his life.” She did not say how counseling affected his sisters.

Anna continues to stand by Joshua and even seems proud of what she calls his “openness and humility” regarding talking about the acts of molestation and the fallout from such acts.

“I can imagine the shock many of you are going through reading this. I remember feeling that same shock. When my family and I first visited the Duggar home, Josh shared his past teenage mistakes.”

It’s difficult for most people to imagine that many parents or potential wives would be willing to accept that history on the first meeting, but that appears to be the case.

What are your thoughts? Would you marry a person who had molested five younger people in the past?

[Photo via TLC]