Amy Duggar King– niece of Jim Bob Duggar and cousin to Jim Bob and wife Michelle’s 19 children– is no longer breaking bread (or noshing on tater tot casserole) with her extended family, but claims she’s perfectly fine with that.
The 38-year-old, who occasionally appeared on the Duggar family’s TLC series 19 Kids and Counting and Counting On, recently opened up to E! News about her estrangement from her uncle and aunt, as well as most of her Duggar cousins, telling the outlet that for her, “boundaries are just very important.”
“If you are not necessarily lining up with mine, then there’s going to be a line drawn,” she said. “Unfortunately, that’s where we stand.”
As The Ashley previously told you, Amy has spoken out about some of the Duggar controversies over the years, including calling out members of her family who chose to write letters in support of her cousin Josh Duggar– Jim Bob and Michelle’s eldest son– prior to his 2022 sentencing for receiving child sex abuse materials (CSAM).
Amy also appeared in Shiny Happy People: Duggar Family Secrets– the scathing docuseries about the Duggars that was released on Prime Video in 2023. (Amy and husband Dillon King also appear briefly in Season 2 of ‘Shiny Happy People.’)
While Amy has been vocal about the issues she has with her extended family, she told E! News this week that she’s no longer “coming from a bitter place,” nor does she regret publicly criticizing some of her family’s actions, even though it cost her the relationships she had with most of the Duggars.
“For a little while, I was really sad,” she explained. “I was really heartbroken. It was really difficult to make that choice and now I stand by it. It’s OK to say we’re living different lives, and I wish them all the best, but I’m going to speak my truth.”
While Amy remains estranged from nearly all of her cousins, she claims that she and Jill Duggar Dillard– who also appeared in Season 1 of ‘Shiny Happy People,’ along with husband Derick Dillard– continue to be “extremely close.”
“We trust each other,” Amy explained. “We have this great cousinship. She has told me intimate details and things that have happened. She trusts me and I trust her.”
Amy also told the outlet how proud she is of Jill– who has had a complicated relationship with her parents since distancing herself from her family’s Christian Fundamentalist lifestyle– noting that she reminds Jill that she’s “doing the right thing” and that her and Derick’s three children will have a better upbringing as a result of the choices she’s made.
“ … I applaud her,” Amy said. “I always will and we’re just going to stay on this path of boundaries.”
Amy announced in June that she had written a memoir entitled Holy Disruptor: Shattering the Shiny Facade While Getting Louder with the Truth, which is set to be released October 14. In her book, Amy will share her “unfiltered testimony of breaking free” from her controversial family.
‘Shiny Happy People’ Seasons 1 and 2 are currently available to stream on Prime Video.
RELATED STORY: ‘Counting On’ Stars Jinger & Jeremy Vuolo Give Update on Duggar Family: “They’ve Been Through a Lot These Last Few Years
(Photos: TLC; Instagram)
12 Responses
So you have nothing to say, but are still talking. Jus stop, Amy. Your obvious attention and money grabs are beyond obvious.
In retrospect, it really makes sense that Jill was the one to leave the cult because she married a regular person outside the cult. A regular person is not going to stand for being treated the way JB treats people. He takes the head of household thing way too far and acts like the king of the family.
She’s literally bragging that she knows intimate details of what Jill went through! Like, are you baiting us? Wanting people to bid money for you to tell them? And also, if you have soooo distanced yourself from the Duggar family, why in the fuck do you use that name every time you put yourself in the press?!?! 🙄
I mean “that name” is just as much hers as theirs. She has every right to “use” it.
But the name isn’t hers. She had her father’s last name all her life and then changed it to Duggar when the reality show got big and she decided she wanted to be a country singer. It’s not her name. Period. This is the same woman that actually seemed upset that Josh never took an interest in molesting her…and flirted with him on camera before his wedding. She’s gross.
Actually, Amy NEVER was a Duggar as Jim Bob is her Uncle and she had her fathers last name. She ‘became’ a Duggar at the same time she tried to make herself relevant
She’s trashed Jana on social media (when one of Josh’s kids escaped from the house and was returned by the police) and has sold stories of other family members. She’s desperate for attention.
WE KNOW YOU LIVE DIFFERENTLY.
JFC stop trying to make fetch happen Amy! It’s not going to happen!
as someone who’s supported amy’s choice to always speak up, did we really need an update for this? even i’m annoyed how she keeps trying to gain attention and profit off of speaking out against her family
Despite being known as Famy (this book is unnecessary really), I still applaud her for supporting Jill. She was the first of the Duggar kids to get married and also the first who realized how wrong her upbringing was. This gives hope for esp the younger girls (like Jordyn) that one of them will go even further and go COMPLETELY against her parents’ wishes, maybe *gasps* having a kid out of wedlock of *gasps* make a career that doesn’t involve her getting a man first. As far as I remember, Jordyn was in Jill ‘sistermom’ group too.
I’m not sure that having a kid out of wedlock is really a form “rebellion.” Honestly did the kids on Teen Mom, or more accurately 16 and Pregnant, show a positive side of rebelling by having unprotected sex before they became millionaires courtesy of MTV? I mean I devour the snark from The Ashley to see the latest train wreck in their rather pathetic lives. Jill has struggled a lot with her childhood to form her own conclusions, and she and Derrick seem to have a strong moral compass. Neither Jill or Derrick use Jill’s childhood in an effort to remain relevant.
No one cares about you, Amy, go away