Controversial Jordyn Duggar Birthday Video — Family Friend Thought Posting It Was A Bad Idea

Jordyn Duggar’s birthday video has been a matter of controversy online, as fans and not-so-much-fans alike expressed alarm at her behavior in the video. Jordyn, 9, can be seen pulling away from her parents and isn’t exactly jumping for joy while Michelle Duggar describes the great deal they got on her dress at a thrift shop. One family friend has responded to the public discussion, denying that there is anything wrong in the Duggar household — but also saying that he thought the Duggar family shouldn’t have posted the video of Jordyn, who he says was too shy for comfort when being recorded.

The Duggar family originally posted the video on their official page on December 19, and the responses included a lot of concern. “I have never seen a kid look that miserable at their party in my entire life,” one poster said. Another commented, “Poor thing looks terrified.”

The other thing viewers noticed about the video was that Caleb Williams was present. He has been rumored as a possible boyfriend of Jana Duggar for some time (though he publicly declared this false just days ago) and his presence was exciting to some fans.

Caleb shared Jordyn’s birthday video to his own page, where he lists himself as a “public figure.” This is where he made his reveal.

The admin of Duggar Family News: Life Is Not All Pickles and Hairspray, a page that follows the activities of the family, commented on Caleb’s post to ask about Jordyn’s well-being, adding “I’m sure you will report child abuse if you see it and not become part of the problem.” Though the comment is no longer visible, the admin caught a screenshot of his response before it was deleted and shared it on the Pickles and Hairspray page.

https://www.facebook.com/Pickles4Truth/photos/a.269728809792602.55371.269181913180625/1438042612961210/?type=3&theater

“Jordyn is a very quiet kid. As I was watching this video being recorded I thought of people parsing it and making assumptions based on a snippet of a party that she seemed to enjoy quite a bit. Part of me wanted to warn against posting it. She was fine pre-recording and immediately after the camera went off.”

Notably, Caleb has been exposed quite suddenly in the past few months to the amount of scrutiny devoted to Duggar family social media posts, and there have been jokes about it with other Duggar family friends (on a post on Caleb’s public Instagram, a photo of him with James Duggar, another Duggar family friend commented that he was “keeping it classy for online creepers who will no doubt steal this photo.” )

Since Caleb was identified in a photo with the Duggar family at a restaurant, followers of the reality stars have found him in shots with Jim Bob Duggar, and with various Duggar boys. These have invariably led to questions about Caleb’s connection to the Duggar family — and debates among fans about whether he’d be a good match for Jana.

However, the Duggar family has been in the spotlight for years, and much more so since the police report detailing Josh Duggar’s molestation of at least five underage girls, at least four of whom were pre-teen and his siblings, was made public in 2015. They are certainly no strangers to the public stage and must have been very aware that Jordyn’s birthday video would be seen by thousands (the video is at over 300k views currently) and that not all of those viewers would be fans. If Caleb Williams had warned them that Jordyn’s video would be subject to a close examination, it wouldn’t have been news to them.

Despite that, a person who is clearly close to the Duggar family and has been in their home many times saw Jordyn’s manner on camera and felt it wouldn’t be the best choice for public consumption.

It’s evident that some of the Duggar family’s fans felt the same way. One said, “To all the people who are saying “She’s probably just very shy”…..well, that doesn’t make it any better. My daughter is “very shy” and we would never take a video of her because she wouldn’t want it.”

While the reason for Jordyn Duggar’s discomfort on camera (after spending her entire life on reality TV) is being questioned, strangers and family friends alike are questioning the wisdom of making it public.