Looks like Jim Bob Duggar has two more rebels on his hands! In the past few years, much has been made of the various ways in which the children of Jim Bob and Michelle Duggar are flouting the strict system of rules they were raised with. One of the most obvious examples is the fact that Jinger Duggar has started wearing pants instead of the floor-length skirts she was raised with, thus inspiring her sisters to violate the Duggar dress code as well. But other Duggars are lashing out in ways that are at once more subtle and more substantial. Chief among them are a pair of unlikely rebels — John David Duggar and his new bride, Abbie Burnett. Take a look: 1. The Newest Duggar Couple At first, it looked as though John David and Abbie would be your typical Duggar couple. That has not proven to be the case. 2. Mixing It Up John David and Abbie began bucking tradition right off the bat with a quirky wedding ceremony. 3. Flying High While the guest list and the vows remained the same, the couple rejected the usual venue — the Cathedral of the Ozarks — in favor of an airplane hangar. 4. Like First Dates Aren’t Stressful Enough! The couple’s first date took place on a small jet that was piloted by John David. 5. The Plane Truth Planes are such a big part of John David and Abbie’s relationship that his proposal was plane-themed. Sounds like another Duggar couple might be soon to leave Arkansas! 6. Speaking of Geography Unlike most Duggar spouses, Abbie is not an Arkansas native. She originally hails from Oklahoma. View Slideshow
One of the most common things to gossip about when it comes to the Duggar family is pregnancy. It’s just kind of what happens when you become famous for having 19 children. Seriously, just think about what that must be like for a moment. Giving birth to 19 children, all those pregnancies, all those newborns, all those rambunctious little kids. And that’s just speaking generally: we can’t even imagine how much more complicated things must have gotten when you throw in the Duggars’ special little quirks. Yep, Jim Bob and Michelle birthed 19 human beings, and now, those human beings are growing up and spawning themselves. As many of them reach courting age, well, the kids just won’t stop coming. So basically, Jessa, Jill, Jinger, and Joy-Anna could, at any given time, be pregnant, and there’s always tons of speculation about it. And today, we’re going to speculate about the state of Jill’s uterus. Jill and her husband, Derick Dillard, are already parents to two children, sons Israel and Samuel. Little Sam is the younger of the two, and he’ll have his second birthday in July. They’re running a little behind schedule for this family, right? Unfortunately, we know that both of Jill’s deliveries were complicated. Both times, she planned to give birth at home with a midwife, as is Duggar tradition, but both times, she ended up in the hospital due to concerns for the baby. And both times she had to have a c-section. It could be that there’s some kind of problem that’s making it difficult for Jill to follow in her mother’s footsteps, or it could be that she and Derrick are happy with two children. OR MAYBE SHE’S PREGNANT RIGHT AT THIS VERY MOMENT! Yep, Jill recently shared some photos of herself wearing some clothing items from cousin Amy Duggar’s new boutique, and the shirts were all very loose. Suspiciously loose. If you check out the comments on the photos, lots of Jill’s followers think something is going on here. Several people asked variations of “Hiding a bump?” and “Another baby on the way?” One person told her “You look like you are glowing …”, and we all know what that means. As one commenter pointed out, with everything we know about the Duggars “it’s not far-fetched to think she could possibly be hiding a baby bump.” And then there were the people who just wrote things like “Pregnant!” Of course, lots of Jill’s fans felt the need to stand up for her by telling everyone else that it’s rude to ask a woman if she’s pregnant, and generally that is true. But Jill is just as thin as ever, so it’s not like anyone’s saying she looks big, you know? Also, as we’ve said, the family has built their livelihood on being pregnant, so it would be kind of weird if no one ever wondered about it . All of the curiosity boils down to the fact that Jill has apparently just gotten herself a variety of loose, flowy shirts. Ones that a woman might wear in the early days of pregnancy when their regular shirts are uncomfortable and it’s not time to break out the maternity wear yet. Is this definitive proof that we should be looking out for a pregnancy announcement soon? Of course not. We should be looking out for a pregnancy announcement based solely on the fact that Jill is a Duggar of breeding age. Duh. View Slideshow: Jill Duggar & Derick Dillard Net Worth: Are They REALLY Broke?!
It would be a massive understatement to say that the Duggars are an unusual sort of family. The Duggars have always played by their own rules, which is one of the things that endears them to their viewers — who are typically, and somewhat ironically, big fans of both rules and end fiercely protected independence. It may seem that these two passions cannot easily co-exist, but it all has to do with who's making the rules. Like Jim Bob himself, Duggar fans tend to be evangelicals with a fierce patriarchal streak. They believe in divine authority and the authority of the male head of household, and while they tend to be big fans of both the military and the police, they're usually distrustful of the government. Which is a big reason that the Duggars and others like them choose to homeschool their children — but as we recently learned, it's just one of many. Take a look: 1. The Whole Brood Jim Bob and Michelle raised 19 children, and at least up to this point, all of them have been homeschooled. 2. The Student Body It’s an almost unfathomable task — and it begs the question: who would take on such a demanding job? 3. The School Marm At first, the educational duties fell entirely to Michelle Duggar. 4. Easing the Burden As Michelle’s eldest children reached their pre-teen years, however, they began to assist in homeschooling their younger siblings. 5. Taking Up the Mantel These days, as the eldest Duggar to remain unmarried and living at home, 29-year-old Jana assumes most of the workload. 6. Faithful Assistant Until recently, Jana was assisted in her efforts by longtime friend Laura DeMasie, who went so far as to move in with the Duggars in order to serve as a live-in teacher’s aide. View Slideshow
Like her sisters, Jessa Duggar is frequently mom-shamed and just generally bullied online. Everything from Jessa’s messy house to the pace at which she homeschools her kids has been the subject of criticism. And apparently, Jess is getting fed up. To be fair, the Duggars have done much to deserve criticism in recent years. In fact, it’s hard to imagine any other reality stars would still be on television following something like the Josh Duggar sex scandals. But as In Touch Weekly points out , the anti-Duggar sentiment has now reached such a fever pitch that fans are ragging on the family for their choice of restaurant. Yes, the Duggars headed to Marketplace Grill on Sunday in order to celebrate the birthday of Justin Duggar. MPG has been the birthday destination of choice for the Duggars for as far back as anyone can remember. In fact, the Duggars seem to frequent the place even when they’re not celebrating anything of note. It’s not all that surprising, as there probably aren’t too many family dining options in Springdale, Arkansas. Despite that — and the fact that, like everyone else with sufficient funds, the Duggars can eat wherever the hell they want — Jessa took some flak from a fan when she posted about Justin’s birthday on Instagram. “Do you guys ever eat anywhere besides Marketplace Grill?” the follower asked. Jessa’s response was both simple, and dripping with sarcasm: “No we don’t,” she replied. Not terribly scathing, but that’s downright savage by the standards of the Duggar gals, who generally just ignore online snark. In fact, the fan was so taken aback by Jessa’s reply that she deleted her comment! Of course, of all her sisters, Jessa seems to have the lowest tolerance for BS. She’s been known to set the record straight when she feels that fans are spreading inaccurate information about her family. And it seems she has little time for folks who would question her choice of dining establishment. So let that be a lesson — never come between the Duggars and their Marketplace Grill! View Slideshow: Jessa Duggar Shares the ONE Critical Key to Pleasing Her in Marriage
In recent weeks, we've been reporting on Josh Duggar's comeback tour . While the Duggars have not made their intentions explicit, it seems clear that they're working toward rebuilding their disgraced son's reputation in the hope that fans will be able to overlook Josh's sex crimes. That seems unlikely, but it's not stopping Jim Bob and Michelle from pulling out all the stops. Of course, if the Duggars have learned anything over the years it's that nothing distracts their fans from scandal quite like a new baby. And that's just one reason that Duggar watchers believe Anna is currently expecting her sixth child. Take a look: 1. Anna’s Clan Josh and Anna have been keeping a low profile ever since it was revealed in 2015 that he had molested five young girls while still in his teens. 2. Hiding Out While Anna has continued to make occasional appearances on Counting On, Josh has mostly kept his distance from his family’s media empire. 3. Creeping Back In recent weeks, however, Josh has made numerous appearances on the official social media counts run by his parents. 4. Starting Slow The Duggars are no slouches when it comes to public relations, and they wisely decided to re-introduce Josh gradually. 5. Safety In Numbers They started with photos of Josh in crowd scenes at family events such as birthday parties. 6. Back At It Recently, Josh and Anna began making public appearances together for the first time since his sex scandals. View Slideshow
Say what you will about the Duggars, when those folks set their mind to a task, they tend to see it through. Of course, if you have the misfortune to be born a female Duggar, the only tasks you’re allowed to participate in are getting knocked up and praising Jesus. Joy-Anna Duggar welcomed her first child , a boy named Gideon, back in February. But fans are convinced the 20-year-old is already expecting a second bundle of joy. As is always the case with this sort of thing, the speculation is based on very scant evidence. In fact, as far as we can tell, a bunch of people jumped to this conclusion with nothing more than Joy’s latest Instagram pics to prompt them: “I see a pregnancy announcement soon!! I have a feeling!” commented one follower “Me too I see a baby bump,” remarked another. Needless to say, it’s a lot of speculation based on very little proof. It’s possible that Joy is engaging in some visual obstruction — but it seems far more likely that she’s simply holding a baby. But some fans offered a different explanation for why Joy might be attempting to conceal her midsection. “It takes a lot more than 6 months to lose baby weight,” one fan remarked. “She had a huge baby bump because she had a 10 pound baby.” Yes, little Gideon entered the world at a full 10 pounds. The little fella captured the coveted title of the biggest Duggar baby to date . And we probably don’t need to tell you he’s had a lot of competition for that title. Being the number one anything in a group that size is impressive. And the Duggars are not the type to hire nannies, so it’s not as though the new mom has had a ton of time to work out in recent months. Joy has yet to respond to the rumors that she’s expecting, and this is one of those situations where fans are taking her silence as a tacit confirmation. What seems more likely, however, is that she simply doesn’t take the time to respond to every single rumor about the state of her uterus. After all, Duggar pregnancy rumors are like Trump tweets. They pop up on social media every day, and at a certain point, you just have to ignore them. View Slideshow: Joy-Anna Duggar Gives Birth to BIGGEST Duggar Baby After Traumatizing Labor
These days, the name Duggar is synonymous with scandal. It's something of an ironic turn of events, as the family was initially marketed as the most wholesome thing on television. Josh Duggar's sex crimes are obviously chief among the awful acts that the Counting On clan has been associated with. But that ugly episode was neither the first or the last time that the Duggars would endure some serious damage to their squeaky clean reputation. Take a look: 1. All Too Human The Duggars often take pride in their moral virtue, but as longtime fans know, they’re not always as ethically flawless as Jim Bob would have us believe. 2. The Worst of the Lot First up is the now-infamous Josh Duggar sex scandal. In May of 2015, the world learned that Josh molested five young girls — four of whom were his sisters — while still in his teens. To make matters worse, his parents helped him evade prosecution. 3. More From Josh Shortly after that scandal went public, Josh was busted using an affair-facilitating website to try and cheat on his wife. What a guy. 4. Consent? The Duggars Don’t Know the Meaning of the Word! Perhaps behavior like Josh’s is inevitable in a culture as relentlessly patriarchal as the one the Duggars live in. In 2016, Michelle Duggar penned an open letter in which she basically said women need to have sex with their husbands on command, even when they’re “exhausted” after a long day. “Anyone can fix him lunch, but only one person can meet that need of love that he has, and you always need to be available when he calls,” Michelle wrote. 5. A Heavy Hand Not only have the Duggars advocated extreme corporal punishment such as blanket training, a police report from the Josh investigation noted that Jim Bob and Michelle admitted to hitting their kids with some frequency. 6. Speaking of Hands … Remember when Jim Bob and Michelle got all handsy on a mini-golf course so they could demonstrate the joys of marriage to their kids? If not, it’s probably best to keep it that way. View Slideshow
90 Day Fiance had its Season 6 premiere, and the drama is already heating up. Though fans have already met the Season 6 couples , we learned a lot more on the premiere. Including which fiancee arrived in the US and almost immediately found another woman’s underwear in her fiance’s home. Let’s start with Jonathan and Fernanda. These two are both adults, but their 12-year age difference is raising some eyebrows, especially since Fernanda is 19. As we saw on the 90 Day Fiance premiere, it’s not just fans who are thinking about how these two are in different stages of their lives. Jonathan’s status as a bachelor in is 30s is clearly making Fernanda a little insecure. Her finding a pair of panties in his apartment on her first day didn’t help matters. They belonged to his ex, which he tried to explain, but it was not a good start for these two. Kalani and Asuelu are one of those couples that you find yourself really rooting for. They both seem sweet and neither appear to be monsters. Also, the way that Kalani talks to the camera is charming. Fans may like these two, but Kalani’s family is not on board. it turns out that her devoutly Mormon family is not happy that she lost he virginity to and had a baby with a man who is not yet her husband. “My family was not supportive of me being with Asuelu,” Kalani revealed. “They thought he was just taking advantage of me.” She revealed that her father, who is Samoan himself, had hoped that she would end up with a very different man. There are deeper issues at play, here. Ashley and Jay are another couple with an age gap, but that’s taking a back seat. Because Jay’s horndog personality is not subtle. He isn’t shy about telling the camera about how much he loves sex. Ashley’s loved ones are worried that he cheated on her while they were in a long distance relationship. “Maybe I don’t care what Jay does when I’m not over there,” Ashley claims. She says: “What he does in Jamaica when I’m not there is none of my business.” Ashley does at least admit: “I’m hoping that he changed his ways.” Sex positivity is great — but cheating? That’s less cool. She’s hoping that he becomes devoted to her in America. Colt and Larissa aren’t on the same page just yet. There was a rpoblem with Larissa’s visa, so she had to miss her flight. She asked Colt to go ahead and book the next one, but he wanted to wait to book a flght after her visa issues were worked out. Larissa didn’t understand that, and it soon became clear that she assumes that, as an American, he is wealthier than he is. “She’s in for an extremely rude awakening,” Colt admits. And this is all before she’s met this momma’s boy’s mother — or their many cats. Eric and Leida are really flipping the script. Though Eric is an older American and Leida is younger, she enjoyed a life of privilege in Indonesia. Eric, though a 40-year-old veteran, seems to be making just enough to get by. In fact, as we learned on the premiere, he had been splitting rent with his 19-year-old daughter. To prepare for the arrival of Leida and her 5-year-old son, he asked his daughter to move out, which obviously created some friction. He and Leida both expressed some anxieties about making this work. Despite their misgivings, smart money says that Eric and Leida are likely to make it to the altar if she’s already come this far. View Slideshow: 90 Day Fiance: Meet the Season 6 Couples!
The Giudice family is rallying against Joe’s impending deportation and asking their fans for support. Teresa is still making time to do Real Housewives events — it’s part of her job, after all. At a recent gathering, she asked fans in the audience to keep her family in their prayers as they fight to stay together. Teresa Giudice took part in the East Coast Vs. West Coast Real Housewives Brunch at the Mohegan Sun casino in Uncasville, Connecticut. Us Weekly reports that, while she was there, she used her platform to ask for emotional support from the audience. “Teresa said to please pray for me and my family,” an eyewitness reveals. The eyewitness adds: “She really hopes Joe is out of jail to see [their daughter] Gia graduate.” Additionally, “She said she cannot wait to see the light at the end of the tunnel.” Not everything that Teresa discussed was as upsetting as a family being torn apart. According to the eyewitness, Teresa “was in really good spirits and made the crowd laugh several times.” “She explained that Dina [Manzo] and Jacqueline [Laurita] were asked to recommend beautiful women for the show,” the eyewitness reports. “Dina recommended Teresa,” she shared. The eyewitness then reveals: “Teresa said she does not know why Caroline [Manzo] did the show.” Shade . “And,” the eyewitness shares. “There was a joke about if Teresa did the show, her husband would go to jail.” That prophecy has been fulfilled, then. As far as doing the show, “she said she f–ken shouldn’t have.” “She said it is Jacqueline’s fault for her doing the show,” the eyewitness adds. “Teresa said she suckered Joe into doing the show,” the report says. The eyewitness continues: “and now that he is away, he has watched himself and says he was an a–hole.” Apparently Gia and her mom have been looking at universities, but Teresa is strongly encouraging for her to stay close to home. “Teresa said she is sick of driving far,” the eyewitness reports. “So is pushing for her to go to Rutgers.” “She said she drives too much,” the report continues. “From dropping off and picking up kids and going to see Joe, she is sick of driving.” Teresa also dished on her 17-year-old daughter’s academic performance, which is … a hell of a thing to do. “She said Gia struggles in school,” the eyewitness says. “And has tutors and she is tired of paying for them.” The eyewitness reports: “She said she gets good grades, but she is not a genius like her middle daughter, who gets straight As and is the smart one.” Teresa addressed other topics, beyond comparing the relative academic performances and intelligences of her children. Specifically, Teresa had some not-so-kind words regarding her feud with Caroline, Jacqueline, and Kathy Wakile Opens a New Window. . “She said she is sad she let them into her house, to be betrayed by them,” the eyewtiness reports. “Fame and money will do that to family,” the eyewitness characterizes of Teresa’s words. “She said,” the report concludes. “You never go against family.” Teresa and Joe have four daughters. Gia is 17, Gabriella is 14, Milania is 12, and Audriana is 9. For them to lose their father to deportation — a horror that is sadly all too common these days — is nothing short of tragic. While Teresa and Joe aren’t perfect (fraud convictions and table-flipping are only the tip of that iceberg), they love their children. (Even if Teresa openly gossips about Gia and also doesn’t seem to understand that academic performance isn’t synonymous with intelligence) Seeing this family put on a brave face while getting torn apart is heartbreaking. View Slideshow: Teresa Giudice: Filing For Divorce Once Joe Gets Deported?!
It should come as no surprise that the Duggar family is worth a lot of money . But what many fans may not realize is that not all of the Duggar fortune comes from their reality TV empire. After all, television audiences are fickle, and future success can be hard to predict. Jim Bob is well aware of this, and since it's part of his belief system that God favors the wealthy, the Duggar patriarch is doing everything he can to stay in his creator's good graces by keeping his pockets fat — by whatever means necessary: 1. The Counting On Clan The Duggars’ reality show remains a popular fixture on the TLC schedule. 2. Looking to the Future But those profits needed to be divided many different ways, and the family has been in the business long enough to know current success is no guarantee of future success. 3. Living Large The Duggars certainly aren’t struggling. Despite having many, many mouths to feed, Jim Bob and Michelle own several properties in Arkansas, including the 7,000-foot “compound” in which they reside. 4. The Plane Truth The Duggars have also purchased two private aircraft. JB and Michelle’s son John David is a licensed pilot. 5. Jim Bob Moneybags All told, Jim Bob is estimated to be worth roughly $3.5 million. 6. Always Hustling A sizable chunk of change, but when you consider the size of his brood (now up to 20 with recent adoptee Tyler, it’s easy to see why the pious patriarch isn’t resting easy … View Slideshow
