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Amy Duggar opens up about an unexpected run-in with her cousin Jana Duggar after years of publicly criticizing the family.
“I saw Jana just the other day, and I didn’t know that ii,” Amy, 40, told the host. Carrie Berk on the “Fire Chats: The Mindfire Pod” podcast on Monday, October 26.
Amy has cut ties with Uncle Jim Bob Duggaraunt Michelle Duggar and their 19 children because of their affiliation with the Institute’s controversial Basic Life Principles religious group, as well as the family’s legal woes.
During a podcast appearance, Amy revealed that she and Jana, 36, had nothing to say to each other when they came face-to-face in a store recently.
“[Jana’s] son [Archie] crawling on a chair, and she gave it back to me. I said, ‘Oh my god, he’s a sweet little boy.’ She turned around, and it was Jana, at this store,” Amy recalled. “I haven’t seen Jana in over 10 years. I was like, ‘Uh, Jana,’ and she was like, ‘Hello.’ I said, ‘Hi,’ and we just left. We didn’t say anything to each other.”
She continued, “We have nothing to say, and it’s really hard to say that. But family can be chosen. I don’t know if you can tell, Carrie, but I have a smile on my face the size of Texas right now because I don’t have to live like that. … I just kept walking.”
Berk, 23, asked Amy what she would really want to say to her cousin at that moment if she wasn’t “being nice”.
“I might have said, ‘I haven’t seen you in a long time, and I hope you’re standing up for what’s right. It’s not too late. I hope you get a backbone,'” she said.
Amy has been particularly concerned about cousin Josh, 38, being convicted of receiving and possessing child sexual abuse material in 2021.
Josh is serving a 12-year prison sentence at FCI Elkton in Ohio but has maintained his innocence and filed several appeals. (He is currently scheduled to leave prison in February 2033, although that date has previously been pushed back.)
Amy surprisingly responded to Josh’s repeated appeals during her last podcast appearance, suggesting that he should “give him a break already.”
“Here’s what I think: Narcissistic people don’t like to be wrong. They don’t like someone questioning their character and making them look like they’re this horrible person, and they don’t think they are,” she told Berk. “This is what narcissistic people do. This is textbook, just how a narcissist handles the situation.”
Amy was previously putting pressure on her cousin Joseph Duggar and his wife Kendra Duggarlegal problem too. The couple was charged with four counts of second-degree endangering the welfare of a minor and four counts of second-degree false imprisonment following a security search at their home in March. (Joseph, 31, and Kendra, 28, signed a plea deal in August that could reduce the charges if they maintain good behavior and do not commit any other crimes for one year. They also have to pay a $1,850 fine.)
Joseph faces separate charges of lewd and lascivious conduct including molestation of a victim under 12 years of age and lewd conduct with a person 18 years or older after he allegedly touched a 9-year-old girl inappropriately while on vacation in Panama City, Florida, with his family in 2020. He admitted Joseph pleaded not guilty and demanded a $60 jury trial before being released.
Amy said in July that she had spoken to the accused Joseph in a phone call where she tried to “give her hope”.
“I said, ‘This doesn’t have to destroy you. It really doesn’t,'” she said on the “Sarah Fraser Show” podcast. “I tried to encourage her. I told her if she needed a safe place to talk, I’m here.”
The Duggar family has not responded to Amy’s various public comments.
If you or someone you know is a victim of child abuse, call or text the Child Helpline at 1-800-422-4453. If you or someone you know has been sexually assaulted, call the National Sexual Assault Hotline at 1-800-656-HOPE (4673).
