Josh Duggar Scandal News Update: Duggar Breaks Social Media to Send Birthday Message to his Son
Josh Duggar has broken his social media silence since reports of his sexual molestation case surfaced to send a birthday message to his son.
On their respective Instagram posts, Duggar and his wife, Anna, uploaded pictures of their son, Michael James. Duggar's picture was captioned, "Happy 4th Birthday Michael James!"
A photo posted by Josh Duggar (@joshduggar) on Jun 15, 2015 at 7:41pm PDT
Anna's post was a video clip that was captioned, "So glad to be in Arkansas celebrating Michael's 4th birthday. We love you Mikey!"
A video posted by Anna Duggar (@annaduggar) on Jun 15, 2015 at 7:35pm PDT
Duggar was investigated for molesting five young girls in 2006 when he was a teenager. Since the police report surfaced, Duggar, his parents Jim Bob and Michelle, and his sisters - who were victims - Jill Dillard and Jessa Seewald, have all talked with the media.
A part of Duggar's statement read:
"Twelve years ago, as a young teenager, I acted inexcusably for which I am extremely sorry and deeply regret. I hurt others, including my family and close friends. I confessed this to my parents who took several steps to help me address the situation. We spoke with the authorities where I confessed my wrongdoing, and my parents arranged for me and those affected by my actions to receive counseling. I understood that if I continued down this wrong road that I would end up ruining my life."
His parents released this statement:
"Back 12 years ago our family went through one of the most difficult times of our lives. When Josh was a young teenager, he made some very bad mistakes, and we were shocked. We had tried to teach him right from wrong. That dark and difficult time caused us to seek God like never before.
Even though we would never choose to go through something so terrible, each one of our family members drew closer to God. We pray that as people watch our lives they see that we are not a perfect family. We have challenges and struggles every day. It is one of the reasons we treasure our faith so much because God's kindness and goodness and forgiveness are extended to us - even though we are so undeserving. We hope somehow the story of our journey - the good times and the difficult times - cause you to see the kindness of God and learn that He can bring you through anything."
"I do want to speak up in his defense against people who are calling him a child molester or a pedophile or a rapist, some people are saying. I'm like that is so overboard and a lie really, I mean people get mad at me for saying that but I can say this because I was one of the victims," Jessa, 22, said in an interview with FOX News.
"We've dealt with it. We've already forgiven Josh. We've already moved on," Jill, 24, said.
Since the scandal, TLC has temporarily suspended "19 Kids and Counting."
