While Amy Duggar King continues to speak out about her family’s past and present controversies, she suspects that more of her cousins haven’t followed suit because they remain under the control of her uncle Jim Bob.
During a recent two-part interview on The Sarah Fraser Show, Amy– who is estranged from Jim Bob, Michelle and most of their children– said she hopes her cousins will start thinking for themselves and “really questioning what they’ve been taught and why they follow blindly.”
Amy’s mom Deanna is Jim Bob’s sister, making Amy the cousin to all 19 of Jim Bob and wife Michelle’s children. (This includes Josh and Joseph, who have both been arrested for child sex abuse crimes.)
“It just blows my mind,” Amy said of her cousins’ actions amid their family scandals. “I don’t understand how you can follow blindly on all of these things and just go along with it and just live in that little bubble, you know? I think that, but I also know that they’re restricted.”
Amy explained that she doesn’t believe her cousins—including those over 18—have access to content that discusses and criticizes their family, causing many of Jim Bob and Michelle’s children to “just go with what they’ve been told.”
“ … and that’s their truth,” Amy said. “ … ‘cause there’s such a narrow mindset.”
Amy went on to say that she believes her uncle continues to be “a very strong, powerful influence in [her cousins’ lives],” and that she suspects Jim Bob still controls “how they speak” and “what they do.”
As for why none of her cousins– aside from Jill Duggar Dillard– have ever spoken out against Jim Bob and Michelle, Amy said she doesn’t believe most of her cousins have fully “done the work” that would allow them to process certain events that have occurred.
“I think that in order to really look at the dynamics of our family unit, you have to do therapy and you have to dive deep into, like, behavioral issues and just the dysfunction of it all and where it really stems from,” she explained.
“… I have nothing against Jinger. I have nothing against Jessa; I have nothing against Jana. I just don’t think they’ve done the work.”
“I don’t think they’ve done the actual, the really deep, hard work in order to look at the framework of it all in order to really disrupt it,” Amy added.
One member of her family who she believes has “done the work” is Jill– a sentiment that was echoed by Deanna later on the podcast episode. (As you know, Jill has distanced herself from her parents, but remains close to Amy and Deanna.)
While Amy remains estranged from the majority of the Duggar Family, she recently revealed in an interview with Oxygen that she’s open to having a conversation with any of her cousins “that are free and good people.”
“I would love to connect with maybe some of the girls,” Amy said. “However, they have to be able to have an open and honest conversation with me.
“ … I don’t hate them,” she later added. “I want them all to be healthy. I want [them] all to flourish and be really successful in life and be good parents and love children and protect children and tell the truth. I feel like the truth has always been so hard to find in my family. I hate that. I just wanna break cycles. I wanna be the one that breaks cycles and continues to stand up for the victim and continues to stand up for what is right, whatever that looks like.”
Watch a clip from Amy’s interview on ‘The Sarah Fraser Show’ below.
RELATED STORY: Jim Bob Duggar’s Sister Deanna Calls for All Duggars to be Investigated Following Joseph’s Arrest: “Everybody Should Be Checked Out”
(Photos: TLC; Instagram)
8 Responses
OMG shut up already!! Who do you think you are to keep lecturing other people when you have the same beliefs? The only difference is you use pants, that’s it. Go away and do something worthy to be famous for instead of clinging to your shitty uncle and pedo cousins
Again, Amy, you did the right thing by speaking up. That is indisputable.
But she’s talking about how SHE wants to be one of the cycle breakers. It isn’t her cycle to break! The children of JB and Screech have to be the ones to break it. It is, yet again, not her lane.
Im just going to repeat my last comment since it hurts to type today.
I dont understand why in a family full of child molesters Amy is the problem. Outing predators is a brave thing to do, i dont care why the person does it so long as the accusation is truthful.
Being annoying or cringey or even attention seeking are not crimes. Pedophilia is, and there are predators all around in her family. I dont blame her from distancing herself, loudly and vigorously.
amy never outted any of her pedophile cousins though except maybe their grandpa but even then that was a lot of insinuating on her part. and the problem here is that none of these stories are hers to tell, only her cousins who are clearly not ready or don’t even want to talk about it and that’s ok because they don’t owe us anything and the best thing they can do for themselves is keep moving forward and not dwell on it like amy does and continues to live off of
Amy did literally NOTHING. She didn’t out any if her pedo cousins, she’s just monetizing it instead of having an actual job because even if she denies it, she loves the notoriety of being a Duggar. That’s why she won’t shut up about them
While all she says is true, I think it’s time for her to stop talking about them. Your name isn’t even Duggar! It never was, you only use it to stay relevant.
Oh well, definitely. I mean, it’s all in the last name, amirite? Not the DNA or shared lived experiences or the knowledge of the family’s inner workings, we just want her to STFU bc … her last name was never Duggar? I get that people think Amy is an attention seeker who seems to want her 15 mins x 3, but THAT is what the issue is? Not her doing the good and decent and integrity filled thing by naming & shaming?
She once made a comment wanting to know why Josh hadn’t targeted her like she was disappointed about it and flirted with the man on his wedding day, her own disgusting cousin. She follows the same bigoted form a Christianity that her family follows just in a more mainstream way. She makes disgusting comments. And she rarely had contact with her cousins when cameras weren’t filming. That has been proven many times. She talks about child safety but keeps gummies in the fridge were child can reach them and constantly posts about his “modeling” jobs. The same spoiled child she once posted about HARMING a cat by throwing it. She talks about her female cousins trauma like it is her own. That’s not right and adds further trauma, ask a mental health professional. So, yeah, people are going to call the fame seeker out. Sorry that bugs you so much but it doesn’t mean anyone is downplaying what Josh and Joseph did. It’s dumb to compare them.