In a TLC clip from her brother's wedding, Joy Duggar Forsyth says that as a teenager, she struggled with her parents' belief system. It was Joe Duggar, she says, who encouraged her to embrace the beliefs her family holds. She's not the first of the Duggar siblings to share her doubts with the public. Her sister Jinger released a statement more than three years ago, declaring that she hadn't been a strong believer until age 14. Now, in an emotional speech at Joe and Kendra's wedding, Joy describes similar doubts, but says that she eventually embraced the beliefs her parents taught her.
Joe and Kendra were married on September 8, so if the clip was filmed at their wedding and not recreated, Joy had been married less than four months, and announced her pregnancy only a week before. Her husband, Austin Forsyth, stands by while Joy makes her speech, and she and her new sister-in-law, Kendra (nee Caldwell), both become emotional.
"Joe, I'm so thankful for you. You really did change my life. Just through my teen years, I think I was having a really hard time, just like, taking my parents' faith as my own, and you really befriended me as an older brother...."