Duggar Family Returns To Public Speaking: No More Canceled Appearances

The Duggar family, in addition to disappearing from TLC’s programming lineup (though the show isn’t officially canceled yet), has pulled out of a number of speaking engagements since the news that Josh Duggar molested five girls between the ages of 4 and 12 when he was 15. Since then, the family has slowly edged back into the public, first with a few social media posts, and now with new speaking engagements, missions trips, and a general re-emergence into the public eye. They’ve even returned to the old habit of expressing biblical disapproval of societal change on their social media pages.

After the revelation rocked the Duggar family and their viewership, they went silent on social media, and canceled public appearances. According to E!, Josh Duggar canceled an appearance at a homeschool convention only days after the news came out. Perez Hilton reports that Josh and Anna also canceled their appearance at the Alive! music festival.

Jim Bob and Michelle Duggar have also canceled scheduled events of late. They skipped a homeschool conference at which they were supposed to speak, citing the “attacks” on their family.

Throughout all of this, the two Duggar daughters who have left the Jim Bob family household to start families of their own have been considered a step removed from everything. There have been rumors of the two, Jessa and Jill, getting their own show, and the two of them ended the family social media silence, testing the waters with posts about pregnancy and babies. They’re also the two family members who came forward to speak publicly about their ordeal.

Now, the two lead the way again, as the first to re-emerge into public life. Both née Duggar women attended the Alive! festival with their husbands — that’s the same festival Josh’s family was to attend, but his and Anna’s cancellation stood.

Though the family was stopped by reporters as they traveled, the Alive! festival must’ve gone well enough, because Jill has now kept a second speaking engagement.

She posted on Instagram this morning, saying she’d spoken at a Finding Balance event last night. Finding Balance is a Christian outreach to those suffering from eating disorders and body image issues.

https://instagram.com/p/4eUdw9rswW/?taken-by=jillmdillard

The rest of the Duggar family has not yet emerged for any events, but did have a family outing to a theme park last week. If the Duggar family is counting on Jill and Jessa to soften the public on a return to television, though, they’ll have to work quickly: Jill and Derrick have announced they’re leaving the country on a missions trip.

The Duggar family is still treading carefully though — could they still be concerned about the reporter who said he wasn’t yet done with them?

[Photo via: Jessa Duggar Seewald / Instagram]