While all of Megyn Kelly’s interview with Jim Bob and Michelle Duggar aired during Fox News’ The Kelly File, there are still more segments from her interview with their oldest daughters, Jill Dillard and Jessa Seewald, that have yet to air. In the segments that will air tonight, the sisters try to downplay the fact that their older brother Josh molested them when they were young.
The interview with Jim Bob and Michelle aired on Wednesday and did include portions of the interview with Jill and Jessa. People Magazine obtained transcript excerpts for the rest of the Jill and Jessa interview.
According to the magazine, Jessa, 22, says that Josh, 27, isn’t a “child molester or a pedophile or a rapist,” even though he did molest his oldest sisters when he was a teen. She later suggested that when he was going through puberty, he was “a little too curious about girls.”
“Josh was a boy, a young boy in puberty and a little too curious about girls,” Jessa told Kelly. “And that got him into some trouble. And he made some bad choices, but, really, the extent of it was mild – inappropriate touching on fully clothed victims, most of it while [the] girls were sleeping.”
That last comment does fall in line with Jim Bob’s comments that Josh touched his victims “over their clothes.” They also insisted that their son isn’t a pedophile.
Jill, 24, and Jessa agree that they did not know what Josh did was molested until Josh admitted his actions to Jim Bob and Michelle.
“I was scared,” Jill told Kelly. She said it was “sad” to hear about Josh’s actions since “this is my older brother, who I love a lot. It's conflicting.”
Kelly’s interview with Jill and Jessa airs tonight at 9 p.m.
screenshot from Entertainment Tonight YouTube video