Thanks to their reality show, the Duggar family — Jim Bob and Michelle Duggar and all 19 of their children — has spent time in living rooms across America. Whether people found them inspirational, startling, or offensive (they have extreme sociopolitical views that they work hard to spread), strangers around the world have watched the children grow up, at least until the oldest child’s abusive and ultimately criminal behavior brought the show to an end and landed him in a cell.
Now that most of the original 19 kids are adults (only three are still minors) and 10 of them have kids of their own, how do they all feel about putting their kids in the spotlight?
Pest & Anna Duggar
Josh Duggar’s kids and his wife Anna appeared on 19 Kids & Counting and appeared on the spin-off shows even after Josh himself — who is unaffectionately called “Pest” around the internet, thanks to an American shortening of the label ‘s*x pest’ that British tabloids attached to him — was tucked in the background when documents released in response to a FOIA request showed that he had admitted to illegal behavior with minors.
Even after Josh was arrested and charged with storing illegal material on his work computer, Anna continued to post photos of their children (she announced their 7th just days before the charges hit) on her public social media pages. Currently, her Instagram is down or hidden, and her Twitter is devoted primarily to political views. However, she still has photos of her kids on it publicly, and her kids have also appeared in videos with Pest’s family members.
Jana Duggar
Jana, who is (along with her twin John David) the secondborn, doesn’t have kids. Still, she’s recently become quite active on social media, including posting videos in which her siblings’ kids are very visible, making her relevant for this topic.
In one YouTube video, posted earlier this month but by Jana’s description filmed a few years ago, she included shots of more than half a dozen children, including her own younger siblings (the youngest is currently 14, so if the video is a few years old she may have been 12) and what appear to be Pest’s kids and Jessa’s (we’ll get to Jessa soon).
John David & Wife Abbie
Jana’s twin, John David, has two kids. He and his wife have a shared social media page where they post photos of themselves and the kids.
This Duggar couple has not come forward with any strong statements about how they feel about kids being posted in public. John David has not publicly expressed discomfort with his own experience growing up on television. However, in 2004, when the first special (14 Kids And Pregnant Again) aired, he was already a teenager and may have been less impacted than some of the younger kids. As a boy, he also may have been less affected than the girls, who faced strict rules under the family’s patriarchal religion.
Jill Dillard and her husband Derick
Jill may be the Duggar child who has spoken most strongly about the harm done by her family’s publicity. She’s also spoken out strongly about the damage done by their religious beliefs.
At first, Jill brought her children on the show and showed them constantly on social media, including uploading videos of their life in South America when they joined a mission group. Then, she and her husband sued family patriarch Jim Bob, saying they were denied their share of the wealth from the show and couldn’t even get a few dollars to help cover her homebirth-turned-medical-emergency. The couple also wrote a book in which she alleges that her dad conned her into signing a contract to put her babies on TV.
She doesn’t put her kids (she has three) on social media these days. However, her husband Derick recently uploaded a family photo and quickly deleted it, possibly because it was intended for a private rather than a public page. Her family’s YouTube channel still includes older videos with her kids in them, and Jill posts some photos on Instagram where her kids are visible but seen at a distance, blurred, or without faces showing.
Jessa Seewald & husband Ben
Jessa, the fifth Duggar child, may be the most public with her kids (currently, there are five of them). She has a YouTube channel where she posts regular updates and shows activities with her family.
While her older sister Jill and younger sister Jinger (coming up next) have decided not to show their kids faces on social media to varying degrees, Jessa’s videos include faces. As previously mentioned, her kids also appear in her sister Jana’s videos at her parent’s house.
Jinger Vuolo & husband, Jeremy
Jinger, who has also released at least one book detailing why she thinks her upbringing, both in terms of religion and publicity, was harmful, is the strictest about how she shows her kids. She has two daughters, and her firm policy against putting their faces on social media includes taking down any already public photos.
Jinger has also indicated that her personality is part of the reason that this was a problem for her. She’s talked about issues with body image, social anxiety, and people-pleasing. She seems to want to protect her daughters from that experience, so while she does post pictures of the kids occasionally, they never include faces.
Instead, her content centers on herself and her husband Jeremy, the (similarly controversial) religion she’s joined since leaving her father’s church behind, the new experiences she’s been allowed to have (like wearing pants), and her books.
Joseph Duggar & wife Kendra
Joe is another Duggar who was previously active on social media, sharing family updates, baby announcements, and images of himself and his family but backed away during the saga of his oldest brother’s criminal charges, conviction, and imprisonment.
He and his wife Kendra have four kids, and unlike Jinger, they didn’t remove older photos from social media but haven’t posted since November of 2021. When they did share pictures, they were predominantly posed, compared to the candid and action shots Jessa shares of her kids.
Josiah Duggar & wife Lauren
Josiah’s story is similar to his brother Joseph’s, although even rockier. He was in his first courtship when the first scandal rocked the family, and it was broken off. He later courted again, making it to marriage and fathering three children.
However, since his marriage in 2018, his social media has been up and down. He and his wife, Lauren, have previously removed photos from their social media, and their verified Instagram account is currently set to private, has no profile photo, and is listed as having zero posts.
Joy Anna Forsyth & husband Austin
Joy-Anna is the ninth Duggar child and seems one of the few perfectly content appearing on camera. Since marrying Austin Forsyth in 2017, she’s had three kids, built a life that involves joining her husband on job sites when possible and posted plenty of vlogs of her family.
However, at the end of June, she dropped what she says is her last vlog and announced that she was leaving YouTube. She noted that uploading a video every week is stressful and that it’s time to prioritize other things. She also said that the decision is partly about giving her kids more privacy, though her kids were visible at various points in this last video, and she also said she’d still post the kids on Instagram.
Jedidiah & wife Katelyn
Jed is one of the most visible Duggars in general. He followed in his father’s footsteps by running for public office (Arizona House of Representatives) and losing.
As for his kids, he and Katey are pretty public with them, too. Their YouTube channel features their family life, including birthdays, trips, and other events. They just dropped a new video with a gender reveal, sharing that they are about to double the number of kids. They currently have two, and Katey is pregnant with twins.
At this point, there’s no indication Jed will stop posting his kids publicly.
Jeremiah & wife Hannah
Jeremiah, Jed’s twin, also has two kids. He was married in 2022, about a year after his twin, but his life is much more private than his brother’s.
Jed’s wedding came right in the middle of his eldest brother’s conviction and sentencing, and perhaps that’s why he’s kept his personal life so much quieter. He and his wife Hannah do have a YouTube channel, but it only has five videos, and most of those are from their wedding.
The couple also may not have much time for social media posting — they’ve had two babies in two years. Or Jer may just be more of a private person. Even on his parents’ social media, he rarely appears without his twin.
Remaining Duggars
The rest of the Duggar siblings don’t yet have kids, though one more is married (Justin, who married Claire in 2021). That leaves four more — Jason, James, Jackson, and Johannah — who (in addition to the aforementioned Jana) are unmarried adults without kids, and three more — Jennifer, Jordyn, and Josie — are still minors.
If any of these younger Duggars have strong opinions on whether children should be on camera, they haven’t made any public declarations. However, the youngest ones show up fairly frequently on their siblings’ social media.
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