Duggar Family Tension: A Familiar Face Missing from Joy-Anna Forsyth’s Gender Reveal Party

Joy-Anna and Austin Forsyth will be parents again come May 2023. The couple, who announced their pregnancy in October 2022, have shared updates about their growing family via YouTube and Instagram. Their most recent video, which documented their gender reveal party, was telling in more ways than one. Duggar family followers noticed that Anna Duggar was missing from the footage. 

Joy-Anna and Austin Forsyth are expecting a baby boy 

Joy-Anna and Austin Forsyth will be welcoming a baby boy come May 2023. The young couple, who wed in 2017, are already parents to Gideon, 4, and Evelyn, 2. Joy also suffered a late-term miscarriage in 2019. 

To celebrate their upcoming baby, the couple hosted a gender reveal party. Dozens of family members watched as Joy and Austin popped balloons to learn whether their new addition is a boy or a girl. While the action of the video was the balloon popping, Duggar family followers were scanning the background to see who was in attendance instead. 

Anna Duggar did not appear to be present at Joy, and Austin’s gender reveal party 

Duggar family followers were quick to scan the crowd at Joy-Anna, and Austin’s gender reveal party for familiar faces. Jill Dillard, who has had a strained relationship with her parents for several years, was on hand to celebrate the upcoming baby. So were John David and Abbie Duggar. Joseph and Kendra Duggar, one of the Duggar couples that opted to go largely underground after Josh Duggar’s child pornography conviction, were also spotted. While many Duggars were on hand for the event, some familiar faces were missing. 

One missing face was that of Anna Duggar, Josh Duggar’s wife of more than a decade. Anna, believed to still live at the Duggar family compound, wasn’t spotted in a single frame from the 11-minute YouTube video. Duggar family followers suspect Anna’s possible absence is telling. 

While it’s possible that Anna was on hand for the event but was not filmed, it seems less likely than other possibilities. Since Josh’s sentencing, rumors have swirled that Anna is trying to put some distance between herself and the Duggar clan. That might include not attending optional events, like a gender reveal party. She was spotted at other recent Duggar events, though. 

Anna Duggar is rumored to be feuding with Josh Duggar’s sisters 

Rumors have been swirling for months that Anna Duggar is at odds with most of the Duggar family. Allegedly, a fair bit of tension exists between Anna, who married Josh Duggar in a televised ceremony in 2008, and Josh’s sisters, several of whom were molested by the convicted sex offender when they were children. 

An alleged source spoke to In Touch in October and revealed that Anna has been distancing herself from Josh’s sisters, in specific. According to the source, who was not named, Anna believes the way several Duggar family members spoke out against Josh was a “betrayal.” The source alleges that Anna had expected “unconditional support” from the family. 

While several Duggar family members spoke out against Josh’s actions, almost all official statements came from the Duggar daughters that Josh had victimized. Jessa Seewald and her husband, Ben Seewald, Jill Dillard and her husband, Derick Dillard and Jinger and Jeremy Vuolo all issued statements after federal agents arrested Josh Duggar. 

Joy-Anna and Austin opted to hold their opinion until after Josh’s conviction. Austin was on hand during the entirety of the trial. Joy-Anna appeared during multiple days of the trial, as well. They did issue a lengthy statement after a guilty verdict was read, though.