What The Duggar Family Is Like After Being Canceled On TLC
In June 2021, the Duggar family was canceled by TLC for a second time, following oldest brother Josh's arrest on charges of possessing child sexual abuse material. The network released a statement to media outlets, including Us Weekly, that simply read, "TLC will not be producing additional seasons of 'Counting On.' TLC feels it is important to give the Duggar family the opportunity to address their situation privately."
Many members of the family expressed their relief that the show was coming to an end. Jinger Vuolo released a statement on her Instagram that read, in part, "We wholeheartedly agree with TLCs decision not to renew 'Counting On' and are excited for the next chapter in our lives." Her cousin Amy King, who appeared on both series, chimed in with her own Instagram post, saying, "I'll treasure the memories, always. Also, I stand with the network in this decision!" Later, she questioned on her stories (via TV Shows Ace) whether the NDA she signed is null and void, teasing fans that things might be getting "very interesting" in the coming months.
While we wait for King to drop that piping hot tea, we're taking a closer look at what the Duggar family is like after being canceled by TLC. From legal dramas to family road trips, we're keeping you abreast of the latest developments out of Northwest Arkansas.
If you or someone you know may be the victim of child abuse, please contact the Childhelp National Child Abuse Hotline at 1-800-4-A-Child (1-800-422-4453) or contact their live chat services.
A battle in court
Duggar viewers are well aware of the scandal that ended it all. In April 2021, the eldest Duggar child, 33-year-old Josh, was arrested on charges of receiving and possessing child sexual abuse material. He posted bond and was released, and has spent the intervening months hiding out at the rural Arkansas home of some close family friends. Why not at his own home? Because, according to the Daily Mail, a judge ordered him not to be in the presence of his six children without his wife, Anna, present, and not to be in the presence of any other children at all. Kind of an impossible order to follow when you live on Duggar grounds.
In late September 2021, Josh was seen for the first time since his April arrest. He was photographed leaving court after a judge denied several motions filed by his legal team to suppress evidence as well as one motion to have the case dismissed entirely (per People). As of this writing, Josh has pled "not guilty" to both charges leveled against him. He would face up to 20 years in prison and a $250,000 fine for each count, if convicted, "for a total possible sentence of 40 years," People reported. Josh's trial was set to begin in November 2021.
If you or someone you know may be the victim of child abuse, please contact the Childhelp National Child Abuse Hotline at 1-800-4-A-Child (1-800-422-4453) or contact their live chat services.
Some Duggars are standing by each other
While the charges leveled against Josh Duggar may be enough to break up most marriages, The Sun reported that Anna, his wife of over a decade, was standing by him. An unnamed inside source told the outlet that Anna had practically moved into the home of Josh's legal guardians (close family friends), taking over the mother-in-law suite and turning over her child-rearing duties to various family members. Anna was allegedly "struggling" with Josh's arrest and placing blame on everyone, from parents Jim Bob and Michelle to the Biden administration, for the trouble he's in, The Sun also reported.
Unsurprisingly, this finger-pointing has led to some tensions within the extended family. The Sun alleges that Anna has had a falling out with the Duggar parents and has essentially isolated herself from various members of the clan, refusing to speak to them. She reportedly believes that had they handled his first molestation scandal better, he wouldn't be in this mess. A rep for the family declined to comment, but this seems like a case where a refusal to deny the rumors is as good as a confirmation.
Celebrating new marriages
Things haven't been all bad in the Duggar universe since their TV time was cut short. There's been plenty to celebrate, including the marriage of Jed Duggar and Katey Nakatsu. In April 2021 (so, before "Counting On" was canceled but after its 11th season had wrapped) the couple surprised fans by walking down the aisle. According to Jed's Instagram post, they'd been quietly courting for about a year before taking the plunge. He wrote, "Katey, the thought of sharing the rest of my life with you makes me the happiest man in the world!"
It seems Jim Bob and Michelle were on board with the union, writing on the family Instagram account that they were "overjoyed about adding a new daughter-in-love to [the] family!!" This was the first Duggar wedding that was truly private — there seemingly wasn't a camera crew or a single member of the paparazzi present to document the day — which just goes to demonstrate how much has changed for the family since their headline-dominating heyday.
More Duggar grandchildren
Weddings aren't the only way the Duggars are growing their already-massive family; they're adding grandchildren, of course! Five months after they tied the knot, Jed and Katey Duggar announced they were expecting, captioning their Instagram photo, "She tested positive, but not for COVID." The couple seems to be over the moon about their "almost instantaneous" conception, as they called it on YouTube. However, critics, including Katie Joy of "Without a Crystal Ball," were less than thrilled about the way the couple shared the news, calling the COVID joke both tasteless and insensitive.
Jed and Katey's baby, due in spring 2022, joins a host of other Duggar grandbabies, including Jessa and Ben Seewald's addition, a daughter named Fern. Born in July 2021, right after "Counting On" was canceled, Fern was an unexpected (but happy) surprise for the couple, who had suffered a pregnancy loss just months earlier. Eldest daughter-in-law Anna announced she was pregnant with her seventh child, a little girl, in spring 2021.
They've mourned miscarriages together
Not all baby news has been happy news in the Duggar family. In October 2021, Jill Dillard announced on her Instagram page that she'd suffered a miscarriage. In the one-minute video clip, Jill and her husband Derick emotionally await pregnancy test results and tell their two children, Israel and Samuel, that they'd be getting a little sibling, before revealing the new baby was "safe in the arms of Jesus."
On their family blog, the Dillards shared a bit more, writing that they'd miscarried only a few days after the final video clip was filmed. Despite it being too early to know the child's gender, they'd chosen a name they felt "encompasses our baby's significance and the life we will always remember: River Bliss Dillard."
The couple has been open in the past about the fact that they use birth control (a very un-Duggar practice), and in a 2020 YouTube Q&A about the topic, they told fans they wanted to have more kids someday. Here's to hoping more little Dillards arrive soon!
Changing churches?
Anyone who's ever watched a single episode of "19 Kids and Counting" or "Counting On" will know just how important the Duggars' faith is to them. So when fans got wind of the fact that the Duggars have (seemingly) changed churches, all hell broke loose.
There's probably much more to the switch than preferred houses of worship. The Duggar family previously attended Lighthouse Baptist Church, where Paul Caldwell (the father of Joe Duggar's wife, Kendra Caldwell) was the lead pastor. The families were seemingly close at one point, but that may have changed. An anonymous source told Duggar aficionado and YouTuber Katie Joy that the Caldwells were living in a home owned by the Duggars. There was apparently some sort of agreement between the two, and the Caldwells weren't paying rent, which worked fine, until it didn't.
Then, in Jed and Katey's pregnancy reveal video, which was posted to YouTube, they disclosed that most of the family now attended Gospel Light Baptist Church. And while yes, the two churches share similar names, they are, in fact, two different places. So why did the family start worshiping somewhere else? No one really knows for certain, though some theorize that it may be due to the house drama. To spark even more curiosity, in fall 2021, The Sun reported that Joe and Kendra sold their home to Kendra's parents for $10,000. Paul and Christina Caldwell had their ninth child in the same year.
Older Duggar siblings are pushing family boundaries
Jana Duggar, the oldest daughter of Jim Bob and Michelle, turned 31 in 2021. Within the family's fundamentalist Christian community, she's inching increasingly closer to being considered a spinster, but (publicly, at least) she doesn't seem too bothered by her relationship status. In fact, in many ways, she appears to be reveling in it. Especially because her age seems to grant her some privileges that are usually reserved for married Duggar women, like wearing pants and going places without a chaperone in tow.
Several of her Instagram photos show the brunette beauty wearing pants out and about in public, everywhere from football games to Las Vegas craft markets. This seemingly innocent apparel choice lies in sharp contrast to her parents' rule that women must wear skirts and dresses, a belief that stems from their interpretation of a Bible verse which says "A woman shall not wear a man's garment." The pants are a huge contrast to the nearly three decades Jana spent wearing those more "feminine" items of clothing.
Additionally, Jana may not be bound by the same chaperone rules as the other Duggar kids. She traveled to Chip and Joanna Gaines' Magnolia destination with her friend, Laura DeMasie, and her brother, Jason Duggar. A commenter on Jason's Instagram post said it was "Kind of sad" that Jana wasn't allowed to go out and about without a chaperone. Jason set the record straight about his older sister by replying, in quotes, "she can!"
They're suffering more arrest embarrassment
Where it rains, it pours. At least when it comes to Duggar family arrest drama. In October 2021, news broke that Josh wasn't the first member of the extended family to spend some time in handcuffs. The tidbit initially came from an unnamed source but has since been confirmed on social media by cousin Amy King in a conversation with a Duggar news page called Pickles and Hairspray.
While the details of the situation aren't fully fleshed out, here's what we do know: in the '80s, Jimmy Lee Duggar, Jim Bob's late father, was arrested on fraud charges related to his car dealership and automobile sales (via Katie Joy on Instagram). Amy King confirmed that her grandfather spent time in jail, though exactly how long is unknown. It also seems that the drama wasn't out of line with his character. He was apparently not a "safe person" (via Pickles and Hairspray) and possibly might have struggled with substance abuse or alcohol issues.
If you or anyone you know is struggling with addiction issues, help is available. Visit the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration website or contact SAMHSA's National Helpline at 1-800-662-HELP (4357).
The Duggars are struggling to bridge divides
Though news of Jill and Derick Dillard's split with the rest of the Duggar family broke years before "Counting On" was canceled in June 2021, it seems the breach hasn't been mended just yet. The details of the initial falling out have always been fuzzy — with the Dillards themselves never confirming exactly what led to the rift, only saying on their YouTube channel, "We're not on the best terms with some of my family. We've had some disagreements and stuff, but we're working toward healing, definitely, and restoration."
Judging by some comments from the couple, it seems that healing and restoration may not be going very well. They wrote on their family website that they "first heard of the cancellation when both a friend & a cousin texted us after seeing TLC's statement online. We do not know how long the cancellation had been planned."
The phrasing seems to suggest that communications between the Dillards and the larger family are so strained that the life-changing news was never shared or discussed behind closed doors. The Dillards even added, "The pursuit of freedom and authenticity has been a growing theme in our lives. Our story is still being written, and this event is just one more step forward toward that goal." Fans might wonder if the Duggars and Dillards are even talking at all?
They're addressing their mental health
In their same statement about "Counting On" ending, Jill and Derick Dillard wrote: "During our years on the show, we had many great experiences with the network, and several of the crew members have even become like family to us! However, we also faced many pressures and some unexpected challenges which forced us to step away from the show in an effort to gain more control over our own lives and to do what was best for our family."
Surprisingly, the Dillards aren't the only ones who seem happy to have stepped away from the series and the fame that comes with it. On a 2021 episode of the "Dinner Party with Jeremy Fall" podcast, Jinger Vuolo chatted more openly about the various ways the show(s) negatively impacted her mental health.
She said on the podcast that her time on TV often led to her worrying about other people's opinions of her, remarking that the complications of fame are something she'd "wrestle through a lot", making her "guarded ... with relationships." Jinger also discussed the difficulty of forming friendships in adulthood outside of her family. She emotionally explained, "It's hard sometimes when people don't understand your life. ... It's something that I think is definitely overlooked when people think about fame." Though the star shared that she's "grateful" and her life is "joyous," it sounds like spending your entire childhood and adolescence in front of the camera isn't as perfect as we may have all imagined it to be.
The Duggars are still going on adventures
There are a number of things many of us do regularly — watch movies, dance, listen to secular music, bar-hop — that are strict no-nos for the Duggar family. But other hobbies, like traveling, are perfectly acceptable.
Travel-lovers at heart, the Duggars have chronicled many of their vacations on their TLC shows, going everywhere from China and Jerusalem to more easily-accessible locations, including Washington, D.C., and New York City. And just because the cameras have stopped rolling, that doesn't mean the Duggars have stopped embarking on these adventures. In fact, they took an RV trip out west and documented the entire thing on the family Instagram account.
The Dillards have been on the move as well, taking a road trip from their native Arkansas to Oregon, following the Oregon Trail for parts of their journey. They, of course, took fans along for the ride on their YouTube channel, posting a series of short videos sharing the highlights.
They're finding new ways to make money
According to The Sun, the Duggars were making about $850,000 a year from "Counting On." So when the series ended, and the paychecks stopped coming, they might have felt a financial blow. How have they been making money since, you may ask?
It turns out, there are a number of ways. In Touch Weekly reported that Jim Bob's commercial rental business brings in a good amount of money for the core family. Many of his sons work for him (or have at some point), but others work as pilots (John David), real estate agents (Joseph), and handymen (son-in-law Ben Seewald). Joy-Anna and her husband Austin bring money in flipping houses. Jinger and Jeremy host a podcast called "The Hope We Hold" (Jeremy also works as a pastor). Many of the women of the family also frequently post sponsored content on Instagram which, given their existing fame, must come at a pretty decent fee.
However, it seems that many members of the family relied on those "Counting On" checks as their primary source of income. So, we may see a lot more family members trying out more traditional careers in the near future.
A possible Duggar comeback
While TLC might be done with the Duggar family, The Washington Post pointed out that the world might not be. The Duggars certainly have a large fan base. Even towards the end, the show was topping 1 million viewers for an episode, and many of the family's individual members maintain large social media presences (Jinger and Jill have well over 1 million followers each on Instagram). This popularity indicates that regardless of scandals and drama, the family remains commercially viable.
So it's possible that we may find them, in some form, back on our screens in the future, even if it's only on our computer screens while more of the siblings put out content on YouTube. Tom Nunan, a professor and former network executive, told the Post, "Typically, these things [aka decisions about who to put on TV] come down to the executive suites at networks, and down to advertising and sales departments..." Maybe that means that as long as there's money to be made off of the family, there's always a chance they could make a comeback somehow.