Counting On alum Joy-Anna Duggar is currently celebrating her latest pregnancy, which she and her husband just made public. However, she is also struggling with her brother, Joe Duggar, having been arrested earlier this year. This is just a series of unfortunate events for her family, and it is not over yet. Admittedly, it sent the former reality star into a “spiral.” So, how has she kept going forward? Keep reading for more details.
Joy-Anna Duggar Was Very Close With Joe
The Duggars were a very tight-knit family, and it seemed as though the older kids raised their younger siblings. That was what made their initial TLC reality series, 19 Kids and Counting, so fascinating to watch. There were also so many people to keep up with and names to remember. Sadly, the show was canceled in 2015 after it came out that Joshua Duggar allegedly molested minor girls, including some of his sisters. The show was rebranded and renamed Counting On, and even after it ended, fans still keep up with the cast.
Jinger Duggar and her husband, Jeremy Vuolo, have their own podcast, The Jinger & Jeremy Podcast. They just had Jinger’s sister, Joy-Anna Duggar, on to chat about surviving trauma and all that they have been through. When it comes to the hardest points in her life, Joy was very candid and shared that it was her family’s issues, mainly because they just never stopped:
“Family stuff has probably been the other thing. Like, we’ve had wave after wave of just sickening, horrible things happening.”
It was one thing to deal with the backlash of what happened with Josh. However, when it happened with Joseph, it was intense. Joy was very close to Joe and his wife, Kendra, who was also arrested. So, to see that happen to them and their charges (Joe was charged with Lewd and Lascivious Molestation/Behavior) sent the former Counting On star spiraling:
“And it really just sends me into a spiral. Those have been really hard seasons, and I feel like I’m coming out of that finally with this last run we went through of family stuff. It just feels like, you know, sin is so dark and so heavy. It’s hard to find true joy… it’s like, happiness is circumstantial.”
Entering A New Season
The Counting On cast has been through a lot, and some have been brave enough to tell their stories. Others are still figuring out what to do and where to go next. Amy Duggar, who is Jinger and Joy-Anna’s cousin, is constantly speaking out. She always has an opinion on everyone else, which can be very off-putting. However, after this podcast, which was extremely open and honest, fans had nothing but praise. In fact, they believed that Jinger and Joy needed to start their own pod and leave the husbands behind:
- I LOVE the idea of “call your sister”. My favorite podcasts are the ones where women just chit chat. Please, please start this!
- YES. You and Joy should absolutely start your own podcast. I have been LOVING these episodes so much!
- I just want to say that seeing your relationship with your siblings, like Joy, truly encourages me to have a larger family. It is so lonely being from a small family!
What do you think of the relationship between the sisters, and do you appreciate their honesty? Let us know your thoughts in the comments below.
Amanda has been a professional freelance writer for over a decade, holding both a BA and an MA. Her passions include animals, iced coffee, gnomes, summer, music, and ‘Vanderpump Rules’.