Josh Duggar’s relatives are continuing to express their disappointment at the disgraced “19 Kids and Counting” star in the wake of the sex scandal that shook his marriage last month.
In an interview with People, Duggar’s cousin Amy (Duggar) King tells the magazine that the family is “shocked and furious” with Duggar, who is currently undergoing treatment in a facility.
“We’re still shocked and furious to the extreme,” Amy said.
Josh Duggar entered rehab after a data breach of the infidelity website Ashley Madison revealed that the former reality star had subscribed to the site. Shortly after the revelation, Duggar admitted that he had been unfaithful to his wife Anna, calling himself “the biggest hypocrite ever.” (In addition to the now-canceled TLC reality series, Duggar had served with the legislative affiliate of the Family Research Council, a position he stepped down from earlier this year when it was revealed that, as a teen, he had molested multiple underage girls, some of his sisters among them.)
Amy wed her former fiance Dillon King on Sunday and, while Josh was initially scheduled to emcee at the reception, he was absent from the ceremony altogether due to his treatment. Speaking to People, Amy was nonchalant about his absence.
“Let’s let him be gone,” she said. “Let’s let him get as much help as possible.”
While the Duggar family remained mostly loyal to Josh during the molestation scandal, since he admitted to infidelity his relatives have been withdrawing their support one by one. In late August, one relative told ET Online, “Josh’s integrity is gone.” Shortly thereafter, Michael Seewald, the father-in-law of Josh’s sister Jessa, posted a lengthy screed online branding Duggar a hypocrite.
“With the name of God on his lips he lived a covert and extensive lifestyle of evil. While proudly saying things like, ‘Our family is like the epitome of conservative values,’ he was looking at porn and soliciting affairs. He took a job at the Family Research Council that exists to promote the traditional family, all the while undermining his own family by violating his marriage covenant,” Seewald’s message read in part.