The Season 6 premiere of TLC’s Counting On convinced many fans that Joy-Anna Duggar-Forsyth definitely got pregnant before her wedding . While this wouldn’t be a controversy in most reality TV families, that’s not the case in the Duggar’s world.
The Duggars are an extremely conservative, religious family who believe in courting and virtually no physical contact before getting engaged and married. Even if a Duggar suitor has put a ring on it, that still means the future husband and wife are limited to handle holding until the wedding day.
Of course, once the bride and groom say, “I do” then it’s time to have as many kids as God will allow them to have. The family doesn’t believe in the use of birth control. In that environment, conceiving a baby before the wedding day would be huge news, leading many critics to point out the hypocrisy and many supporters to scramble for justification.
Duggar-Forsyth and her husband, Austin Forsyth, have already admitted to breaking some of the Duggar rules. They shared full frontal hugs (instead of the Duggar approved side hugs), Duggar-Forsyth sat on her future husband’s lap, and they held hands before they got engaged.
Rumors began to fly that Duggar-Forsyth got pregnant before she got married when she moved her wedding date from October to May. Then, less than three months after she walked down the aisle announced her pregnancy. Adding fuel to the fire, the picture she posted with her announcement showed off a baby bump that looked suspiciously bigger than expected for the first trimester.
The speculation went into overdrive after the latest episode of Counting On featured Duggar-Forsyth making plans for her big day and wearing baggy sweatshirts and blouses. The episode was shot just weeks before her wedding.
Experts claimed that Joy-Anna appeared to be 20 or more weeks along, when she had only been married for 15 weeks.
Her especially large baby bump has also lead to speculation that she could be expecting twins. The Duggar family already has two sets of twins in the entire 19 Kids and Counting family.
However, if she were only a few weeks pregnant at the time, would there have been a need for baggy clothes?
Many are convinced the episode was proof of a shotgun wedding and a premarital Duggar pregnancy, but it’s hard to think that anyone except Duggar-Forsyth and her husband will ever know for sure.
Tell us! Do you think Joy-Anna Duggar was pregnant when she walked down the aisle? Let us know in the comments below.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4aig9idWiXc
[Featured Image by TLC]
