INQUISITR.COM / Entertainment

Duggar News: Jessa Seewald Confesses To Breaking Family Courtship Rule

By Laura Meltzer
Published on: 08:13 PST, Jul 7, 2016

Duggar News has just gotten a little more interesting. Daughter Jessa Seewald has admitted to breaking the family’s courtship rule before marrying her husband Ben Seewald, reported the International Business Times.

When it comes to dating in the Duggar family household, there are some incredibly strict rules. Prior to marriage, the family’s children must have a chaperone present when the couple is together. Twenty-three-year old Jessa recently revealed in Growing Up Duggar, a book co-authored by her and her sisters, that she interacted with her now-husband without a third party present. Ben and Jessa used phone calls as a way to work around this rule.

“The day Ben and I started courting, we began our tradition of calling each other on the phone every night. These were such special times… These calls were not ‘chaperoned.’ They were private just between the two of us.”

In Duggar news, Jessa Seewald’s courtship confession is considered both earth-shattering and somewhat scandalous to the family. Though according to Jessa, these phone calls weren’t inappropriate by any means. In Growing Up Duggar, Seewald revealed the content of her conversation with husband Ben Seewald.

“We would talk about everything from how our day went, to what we had been learning from our Bible reading, and then just anything else that we want to talk about.”

Jessa Seewald’s courtship slip-up isn’t necessarily huge Duggar news to avid fans. Jessa and Ben had a little bit of a reputation for making mistakes during their dating period. On an episode of 19 Kids and Counting in 2014, the entire Duggar family went out for dinner. When the group was instructed to gather together for a pre-meal prayer, Jessa and Ben accidentally held hands during the blessing. According to the Duggars, hand-holding is a romantic action done only by engaged couples. While Jessa’s father, Jim Bob Duggar, noticed the couple’s mistake, he didn’t express his anger since he knew Ben and Jessa would be engaged shortly.

Later in the same episode, Jessa Seewald courtship behavior endured another slip-up. Duggar news was taken by a storm when Ben proposed to Jessa after sending her on a day-long scavenger to find him. Once she had found Ben, he popped the question and she immediately accepted his proposal. The couple quickly embraced each other in a full-frontal hug, which is considered hugely problematic by Duggar standards. Luckily, Jim Bob wasn’t anywhere near to see what had happened between the two.

Jessa Seewald’s courtship mishaps aren’t the only ones that have occurred within the family. On the Duggar news blog, daughter Jill Dillard’s now-husband, Derrick, admitted to dating other women prior to their marriage.

“I had had a couple of girlfriends before meeting Jill, and chaperoning was new to me… But just because I had handled relationships one way in the past didn’t mean I couldn’t do it differently going forward.”

The Duggar family hasn’t only encountered courtship trouble, but twice as serious problems. Josh Duggar not only had been cheating on his wife, Anna Duggar, with several other women, but it was revealed that he had molested five underage girls. Four of the five girls were his sisters, according to the International Business Times.

More scandalous Duggar news is sure to come out in season two of TLC’s Jill and Jessa: Counting On. While Jessa’s courtship won’t be addressed in this next season, the episodes will follow Jinger Duggar’s relationship with Jeremy Vuolo.

Hopefully, Jeremy will be given Jim Bob’s overall approval. After all, it’s a tough screening process to be married into the Duggar family. Not only do the couples need to stay away from anything physical, but they must have their text messages monitored by Jim Bob and Michelle, according to MNR Daily.

Good luck Jinger and Jeremy!

[Photo by Brendan Hoffman/Getty Images]

Share this article: Duggar News: Jessa Seewald Confesses To Breaking Family Courtship Rule
More from Inquisitr