Just months after Here Comes Honey Boo Boo was the center of a controversy, another TLC show is in trouble. Josh Duggar, one of the stars of 19 Kids and Counting, has admitted to molesting young girls while a teen. At least one of the young girls he victimized was reportedly one of his sisters.
19 Kids and Counting is a member of TLC’s long roster of family reality shows. It centers on the Duggar family of Arkansas. Jim Bob and Michelle are the parents and they have 19 children at the moment. They “only” had 17 when the series began, although their lives were the center of TLC and Discovery Health shows for a few years before 17 Kids and Counting premiered in September 2008.
Jim Bob and Michelle are Independent Baptists and do not believe in birth control, hence the large brood. As Time notes, they have said they used birth control prior to Josh’s birth. After Josh, she went back on the pill, but she miscarried. After that, they decided to stop using the pill for good.
Just like Josh, every child has a name that starts with a “J.” The group also includes two sets of twins. The full list of kids are as follows:
Joshua
Jana and John-David
Jill
Jessa
Jinger
Joseph
Josiah
Joy-Anna
Jedidiah and Jeremiah
Jason
James
Justin
Jackson
Johannah
Jennifer
Jordyn-Grace
Josie
Michelle and Jim Bob homeschool their children and they all have to wear modest clothing and can only be entertained by things they approve of. They have their own “buddy system,” with each older sibling taking care of their younger siblings.
Josh, Jill and Jessa are married. Jessa, 20, is pregnant with her first child, while Jill, 26, just gave birth to Israel David Dillard. Josh, 27, and his wife have have three children and a fourth on the way. His oldest daughter is actually two months older than his youngest sister.
Although TLC has pulled 19 Kids and Counting from the schedule, the show’s happy-go-lucky website has seen no changes. You can even still make your Duggar name. (This author’s Duggar name is “Jasper Daniel Duggar.”)
The show just finished its 15th season and it might not get a 16th. TLC has yet to announce what its long-term plans are for the show.