A ’19 Kids and Counting’ Crew Member Gives Positive Review of the Duggar Family Ahead of Amazon’s Bombshell Docuseries
The Duggar family spent more than a decade sharing their lives on TLC. While the family had plenty of fans, they also amassed many critics. The pool of critics grew in 2015 when Josh Duggar, Jim Bob and Michelle’s eldest son, admitted to molesting several of his sisters. In 2021, the family was rocked by another scandal when federal marshalls arrested Josh for possessing and receiving child pornography. The scandals aren’t over yet, at least according to Amazon Studios. The streaming giant is set to release a four-part docuseries about the Duggar family. The trailer promises to unearth more wrongdoing. Not everyone has a negative spin on the supersized family, though. A former crewmember of the family’s TLC show, 19 Kids and Counting, has offered some positive thoughts on the Arkansas-based brood.
A ’19 Kids and Counting’ crewmember speaks out about the Duggar family
Amazon Studios will release a docuseries about the famous Duggar family on June 2. Shiny Happy People: Duggar Family Secrets promises to uncover the family’s biggest secrets. Several Duggar insiders are set to discuss everything that went on inside the home and in the IBLP, the controversial Christian Ministry the family follows. One former crewmember insists it wasn’t all bad, though.
The insider spoke to The Daily Mail about their time inside the Duggar family’s Springdale, Arkansas home this week. The former crewmember, who allegedly worked on 19 Kids and Counting, insists they didn’t see anything particularly nefarious while working on the family’s original TLC show. They claimed the family was respectful and gracious while the crew was onsite. They went on to say that Jim Bob and Michelle were careful to keep the kids out of the way.
Except for Joshua, the insider had mostly positive things to say about the Duggar kids. They told the publication, ‘I see Josh Duggar as like almost a separate entity … his younger brothers and everyone else are, they’re great. They’re all nice guys. They’re respectful. Of course, they have their teachings that I don’t agree with at all, but in terms of just not being a sexual predator … they’re not that.’ The Daily Mail did not reveal the identity of the crewmember.
Other crewmembers have spoken out in the past, and their memories were more negative
While the unnamed source had mostly positive things to say about the Duggar family, not all insiders and crew members felt the same. In the past, several insiders have stepped forward to discuss their time around the Duggars, and it’s been mostly negative. More will speak out against the Duggar family in Amazon’s upcoming docuseries.
Over the years, former family friends have outlined coverups and uncomfortable behavior. A former crewmember dished to In Touch in 2018 and insisted the Duggars were horrible to work with. Yelling, controlling behavior, and chaos was the norm inside the Duggar compound, according to the unnamed source. The source even claimed Michelle Duggar purposefully had an openly gay crewmember fired from the project.
Who is attached to ‘Shiny Happy People: Duggar Family Secrets’?
While the source who spoke to the Daily Mail will not appear in Shiny Happy People, several key insiders are set to appear in the upcoming docuseries. Most notably, Jill and Derick Dillard, Amy Duggar King, and Deanna Duggar sat down for interviews for the docuseries. Jill is Jim Bob and Michelle Duggar’s fourth child. She married Derick Dillard in 2014. Amy Duggar King is Jim Bob’s niece, and Deanna Duggar is Jim Bob’s sister. All four have spoken out against the Duggar family in recent years.
Jim and Bobye Holt, former friends of Jim Bob and Michelle, agreed to participate in the project, too. Jen Sutphin, the YouTube content creator who hosts Fundie Fridays, and several former Institute of Basic Life Principles members were also seen in the trailer.
