Josh & Anna Smuggar: A Series of Unfortunate Events

[crazy8s]

of the 7 llcs with Anna's name, i think 2 have property. one a vacant lot and one a house, but they sold of a few acres of the  property the house is on a while back.

personal property tax wise, the old rv is the only vehicle listed for Josh and Anna.

only one of the llcs is in josh and anna's name only. the others have anna and either travis story, a financial group and/or the duggar accountant listed. I am wondering if she even knows anything about the llcs or if she was the obedient and dutiful wife and DIL and just signed whatever paper was put in front of her.

[BetyBee]

Sometimes I wonder if Anna is aware that she has any options and maybe she doesn't really have options. It doesn't appear that her parents are offering refuge. And it's not impossible that any contact with her from outside the compound is screened. JBoob and Mechelle surely want her to stay "with" Josh, looking very loyal to him at least until after the trial. She has no marketable skills and no desire to work outside the home. If he ends up in prison, she and her brood will just be a burden to them and a drain on finances. Whatever happens to her, I don't envy her life. At all. 

[irisheyes]

3 hours ago, BetyBee said:

Sometimes I wonder if Anna is aware that she has any options and maybe she doesn't really have options. It doesn't appear that her parents are offering refuge. And it's not impossible that any contact with her from outside the compound is screened. JBoob and Mechelle surely want her to stay "with" Josh, looking very loyal to him at least until after the trial. She has no marketable skills and no desire to work outside the home. If he ends up in prison, she and her brood will just be a burden to them and a drain on finances. Whatever happens to her, I don't envy her life. At all. 

While Anna may not have a lot of options inside the fundie community, if she chooses to leave (which is unlikely), there are resources not too far from her. A church like Jill’s would definitely utilize its resources to help a single mom like Anna. She would find help getting housing, furniture, childcare, even counseling, etc.  

But this is all an exercise in futility. She will stay to the bitter end, because if she leaves, she has to admit to herself that her perfect life was only an illusion. 

[CandyCaneTree]

I wonder how many of his brothers and sisters will disassociate from him after he is found guilty?

[hathorlive]

14 hours ago, Fallacy said:

@quarks

I don’t want to quote your entire post, but I did want to note that I read it and get where you’re coming from. I think Emily’s point is that if the feds had evidence that Josh was involved in the production of cp at the time of his arrest, they would have to charge him with that then. Now if they found that evidence of that crime in the months since, yes, they could then charge him with it. But they can’t just hold onto that evidence as a threat to suggest that if he doesn’t accept a plea for the receiving and distribution charge, they will then tack on a production charge. That’s my understanding of what she meant. But again, I completely get where you’re coming from, and you may be absolutely correct that they could tack on production charges, but they’re sticking with the receiving and distribution charges for now because that’s what they can 100% prove. But I just can’t imagine that if they had evidence to support a production charge, which comes with a much heavier sentence, that they wouldn’t have started there and negotiated their way down to a plea deal for the receiving and distribution charges. 

This is just my experience, not speaking for the entire legal world.  But anytime a prosecutor hears the word production (it's production, Katie J, not manufacturing) they jump at that charge.  No prosecutor holds on to that as an ace in the hole because it's a big charge that will get more time.  Usually production goes hand in hand with abuse of a victim.  The chargers snowball. So no, if they had production, he'd be charged with production.  I mean, what would a prosecutor hold on to that for?  So he pleads to 8 years when production would get him 12?  Makes no sense.

[awaken]

6 hours ago, crazy8s said:

of the 7 llcs with Anna's name, i think 2 have property. one a vacant lot and one a house, but they sold of a few acres of the  property the house is on a while back.

personal property tax wise, the old rv is the only vehicle listed for Josh and Anna.

only one of the llcs is in josh and anna's name only. the others have anna and either travis story, a financial group and/or the duggar accountant listed. I am wondering if she even knows anything about the llcs or if she was the obedient and dutiful wife and DIL and just signed whatever paper was put in front of her.

Sometimes I wonder if we on these boards know more about the various llc’s and what’s in them than Anna does. 

[Scarlett45]

8 hours ago, ozziemom said:

I know we’ve assumed Boob is footing the bill for Josh’s legal team but if the Smuggars have assets, ie $$ from home sale, wouldn’t Boob use that $$? Cos you know he has control of all that too. I doubt Anna has access to any cash or assets regardless of how many LLC’s are in her name. Boob (or his accountant) probably pay all the bills and Anna has a debit card with a $500 limit. I imagine Jana has more leeway with her spending than Anna does. 
 

Also, Anna’s sisters who broke away did not have 6 + kids.

I agree with your assessment. 
 

I do not see Anna as a particularly hard worker, the way I would say Jana has a strong work ethic. Anna thought she had hit Fundy royalty marrying Josh, and after scandals 1 & 2 she continued to procreate with him because she wanted more children. 
 

I do not know how she feels or what she thinks right now, and although I would never wish ill will on her or the baby on a basic human level-I don’t believe she has the DESIRE to leave Josh. 
 

At best she may desire to live a part from him and be supported by JB, which I think he would agree too so long as she totes the party line. But that’s a best case. 

[Fosca]

12 hours ago, irisheyes said:

While Anna may not have a lot of options inside the fundie community, if she chooses to leave (which is unlikely), there are resources not too far from her. A church like Jill’s would definitely utilize its resources to help a single mom like Anna. She would find help getting housing, furniture, childcare, even counseling, etc.  she has to admit to herself that her perfect life was only an illusion. 

I wonder if she even knows about these resources and GoFundMe and such; remember, she's been isolated from the outside world for pretty much her whole life.  She may think that since family and her church can't/won't help her that she has zero choice, particularly with all the kids she has.  She may think that Josh and JB are the only things standing between her and living on the streets.

[GeeGolly]

2 minutes ago, Fosca said:

I wonder if she even knows about these resources and GoFundMe and such; remember, she's been isolated from the outside world for pretty much her whole life.  She may think that since family and her church can't/won't help her that she has zero choice, particularly with all the kids she has.  She may think that Josh and JB are the only things standing between her and living on the streets.

Not only do I think she knows about GoFundMe, but I think she's donated to them. I also think she knows there's a lot of haters out there. While Josh may have been her prince, I'm guessing she knows by now he is the most hated Duggar, so she may think few would likely to donate to her. But she also likely knows if she renounced the Duggars she bring in a lot of donations.

[MamaR]

In reference to the legal fees, I really don’t think JB is paying for all of it. I think if Josh and Anna have any money (even if controlled by JB) that money is going to legal fees and when it runs out (and probably will) then JB will have to contribute.  Two things we know JB is extremely cheap and they blame Anna (to some extent) for Josh’s troubles. My feeling is at the end of the day when Josh ends up in prison (🤞) and all the money spent on legal fees has run out I really don’t think JB and co will be too concerned with taking care of Anna. I think she could end up back with her parents or maybe a sibling who can take her and her children in. Just my thinking.  I would really hope that Josh’s parents would continue to support her but it wouldn’t surprise me if she was abandoned after this doesn’t work out the way they want it to. 

[ozziemom]

I think Boob is all about control so he will support Anna and especially the M kids for as long as he can. Even without the TV show, the optics of tossing them out on the street or fleeing to Florida are not good. He enjoys the patriarch Christian persona so he will always support the Smuggar family.  Plus I don’t think Meechelle would go along with cutting them out.

[Minivanessa]

Just now, ozziemom said:

I think Boob is all about control so he will support Anna and especially the M kids for as long as he can. Even without the TV show, the optics of tossing them out on the street or fleeing to Florida are not good. He enjoys the patriarch Christian persona so he will always support the Smuggar family.  Plus I don’t think Meechelle would go along with cutting them out.

I agree. I was writing a comment along these lines when you posted that^^.  Even if all the Duggars and their spouses decided today to go quiet and private on social media - which Jeremy and Jessa would do when pigs fly - they would still be in the public eye at some level, for quite awhile. Bottom-feeding clickbait sites never die. If the bottom feeders turn up a nugget like JB tossing Anna and her seven kids off the TTH, the mags like InTouch and People will pick up the story. JB knows that would tarnish his public image and he won't have that. 

And about Anna. Yes a couple of her sibs left the fundie lifestyle (cult). But the rest of them have stayed. One sister is married to that crazy-ass self-styled self-employed "missionary" who hauled his family off to Africa years ago. Another is married to David Waller, who I think well outranks any Duggar in the IBLP hierarchy although he's now left his IBLP job to be an IFB preacher. One younger bro married Nurie Rodrigues and another is engaged to Josh's pretrial release guardians' daughter. I just don't see Anna even thinking about leaving the Duggar family, or writing a tell-all, or questioning the religion. She's got a couple of decades of child rearing ahead of her. She seems to like it and to be pretty good at it. Sure, anything could happen but I'd never bet on Anna making a book deal or threatening JB with "exposure." 

[GeeGolly]

I think after a rough start, all the Duggars actually like Anna. In the beginning, I think Michelle struggled with sharing the baby making spotlight with her, and the girls were a bit jealous because Anna was elevated to the couples circle. If I'm remembering correctly, Grandma Mary was really the only who embraced her from the get go.

But I actually think during the past 5 years Anna has somewhat taking over the role of the TTH matriarch, which frees up Jana, JB and Michelle. So they all may really want to help Anna, in addition to maintaining their "Christian" image.

[BigBingerBro]

If the Duggar Empire was still as it was when they aired the first specials, I doubt they would take in Anna and her brood.   Now they do have considerable monies as well as space.  It is definitely most likely a financial burden, but not as bad as it would have been in the past.  I'm guessing they are banking on more and more house flips to support the army for Jesus she is raising.

[BitterApple]

I think Anna is exactly where she wants to be. The Duggars can provide a more comfortable life for her and her children. I don't think she wants to go back to her childhood of stacking kids up in a double-wide. Sure, a windowless warehouse isn't ideal but I think they just sleep there. Most of their days are spent at the TTH. 

Leaving with seven kids and trying to carve out some form of existence for herself is an uphill battle that would take years. The path of least resistance is the one Anna is currently on.

[Hpmec]

Boob  is not at all interested in seeing a tabloid story about Anna and her children struggling. He will support them. Hell, Anna is an extra set of hands around TTH. Let her cook the meals for the remaining Duggars living at home and put her to work as "teacher" in the Duggar kitchen table academy. What's 8 more mouths to feed anyway? They are used to having a shit ton of people around and a big tater tot caserole goes a long way. 

Edited September 18, 2021 by Hpmec

[merylinkid]

3 hours ago, Fosca said:

She may think that Josh and JB are the only things standing between her and living on the streets.

Hell, I represent women who aren't in a cult and theoretically should know more about resources available who are CONVINCED that if they divorce their abusive husband, he will get the kids and she will on the street with nothing but the clothes on her back.   All because her abuser said so.   Because abusers first affect you mentally.   It takes a lot of convincing.   Some of them won't even agree to sell the house that is too expensive for them to afford the mortgage on because then they think they will have no where to live.   I have to explain that you get this thing called money from the sale of the house that you can then use to go buy another one.   

So unless Anna has someone who is looking out for her (actually looking out for her, not just saying it -- looking at YOU Head Idiot) to explain what her options are and keep working with her on what her options are, she might not be able to leave him.   

But having said that, my clients find a way to do it anyway because they realize being on the street with nothing is better than staying.  

[drafan]

15 hours ago, Scarlett45 said:

I do not see Anna as a particularly hard worker, the way I would say Jana has a strong work ethic.
 

Jana has never had a job in her life. She posts carefully curated pictures of herself "decorating", "organizing", or "crafting".

 

4 hours ago, ozziemom said:

I think Boob is all about control so he will support Anna and especially the M kids for as long as he can. Even without the TV show, the optics of tossing them out on the street or fleeing to Florida are not good. He enjoys the patriarch Christian persona so he will always support the Smuggar family.  Plus I don’t think Meechelle would go along with cutting them out.

Anna will be there forever. Plus, she will finagle ways to keep her baby fever at bay....with more pregnancies that will cause Meech to squeal her Mulletty head off with excitement.

[BitterApple]

Question for those in the know: If Josh goes to prison and has to register as a sex offender, how does that affect his access to the family going forward? Can he be around his nieces and nephews, or is no contact with children limited to strangers? Is it up to the Duggars' discretion? I'm not familiar with how all this works.

[Rootbeer]

1 hour ago, BitterApple said:

Question for those in the know: If Josh goes to prison and has to register as a sex offender, how does that affect his access to the family going forward? Can he be around his nieces and nephews, or is no contact with children limited to strangers? Is it up to the Duggars' discretion? I'm not familiar with how all this works.

From what I have read, it seems like, at the time he is released from prison, it will be up to the courts to decide what the terms of his parole will be including what limits there may be on his contact with children.  The terms can be anything from no contact at all to unlimited contact and everything in between.  

[momma2seven]

Maybe this has been brought up already and dismissed but...It's possible Anna WANTS  to leave Josh but is so brainwashed into believing everything she is told, feels like she can't. And I don't mean in the obvious ways that I know have been discussed here. regardless of all of our opinions on JB and Michelle, Anna has been told from day one that they are the best parents ever and experts on handling a large family. They have a nice, large home, money, and have already successfully gained custody of a not-Duggar child. It is entirely possible that Anna wants nothing to do with them/Josh and hasn't for some time but is also being "reminded" that she has no income, no experience, no home, no prospects, essentially she has nothing without the OG  Duggars. She very well might be being told that if she leaves, they'll go for the kids, and it's likely, from her viewpoint on the world, that she would completely believe she wouldn't stand a chance if they tried to take her kids away. One thing we know about Anna is that she seems to love her kids and wants nothing more than to be a mom. I think a lot of moms with a similar mindset, belief system, and brainwashing, would absolutely put up with anything if it meant not having the threat if their kids being taken away.

[Cinnabon]

10 hours ago, GeeGolly said:

Not only do I think she knows about GoFundMe, but I think she's donated to them. I also think she knows there's a lot of haters out there. While Josh may have been her prince, I'm guessing she knows by now he is the most hated Duggar, so she may think few would likely to donate to her. But she also likely knows if she renounced the Duggars she bring in a lot of donations.

I was just thinking of her and her hateful beliefs and it made me so angry! I’ve been having some heated SM conversations lately about the Texas abortion laws, and so many think women should be forced to give birth, but too bad if she can’t afford the kid/s. They don’t want any of their tax money going towards any benefits for needy kids and families. “They should have thought of that before having sex.” Ugh! Anna is one of those people, and I’m sure don’t see the irony . What about other families in which the breadwinner goes to prison or dies? They don’t deserve help? I would fight (and do) to make sure all needy families get all the assistance they qualify for. Anna supports leaders who don’t care what happens to hungry and homeless kids. I would fight for her benefits and she would take rights away from me.

[Cinnabon]

9 hours ago, Jeeves said:

I agree. I was writing a comment along these lines when you posted that^^.  Even if all the Duggars and their spouses decided today to go quiet and private on social media - which Jeremy and Jessa would do when pigs fly - they would still be in the public eye at some level, for quite awhile. Bottom-feeding clickbait sites never die. If the bottom feeders turn up a nugget like JB tossing Anna and her seven kids off the TTH, the mags like InTouch and People will pick up the story. JB knows that would tarnish his public image and he won't have that. 

And about Anna. Yes a couple of her sibs left the fundie lifestyle (cult). But the rest of them have stayed. One sister is married to that crazy-ass self-styled self-employed "missionary" who hauled his family off to Africa years ago. Another is married to David Waller, who I think well outranks any Duggar in the IBLP hierarchy although he's now left his IBLP job to be an IFB preacher. One younger bro married Nurie Rodrigues and another is engaged to Josh's pretrial release guardians' daughter. I just don't see Anna even thinking about leaving the Duggar family, or writing a tell-all, or questioning the religion. She's got a couple of decades of child rearing ahead of her. She seems to like it and to be pretty good at it. Sure, anything could happen but I'd never bet on Anna making a book deal or threatening JB with "exposure." 

She’s such a “good mother” that she continued to live with a man who has downloaded and presumably watched CP, including some with an 18 month old 😡. That negates any other “good” mothering IMO.

[Minivanessa]

23 minutes ago, Cinnabon said:

She’s such a “good mother” that she continued to live with a man who has downloaded and presumably watched CP, including some with an 18 month old 😡. That negates any other “good” mothering IMO.

I thought about that. What I meant when I said she "seems to like [child-rearing] and to be pretty good at it," was that she appears to be good at handling the daily life of her family and seems genuinely interested in her kids' activities and development. Her kids in photos typically look better dressed and put-together than Michelle's younger kids, for instance.

I don't know that Anna knew about the CSAM until the charges were filed, so I'm not going to say she knowingly continued to live with a man who did that. She did stick by him after the molestations were publicly disclosed and then his Ashley Madison-related activities and adult porn watching were revealed. I think that women who aren't in any kind of fundie cults have made similar marital decisions. 

IMO the whole IFB/Duggar/IBLP world is sick and twisted and f*cked as all getout, and I respect your opinion that Anna's not a good mother. I was just trying to look at where Anna's head is likely to be, and I think she wants to keep on raising her kids inside the Duggar circle, no matter where Josh-U-a ends up. And unlike Michelle, Anna has appeared to like daily hands-on motherhood. 

Edited September 18, 2021 by Jeeves
Clarity. It's a goal.

[sue450]

On 5/28/2021 at 2:37 PM, Cinnabon said:

I agree and think that’s why JB was in such a huge hurry to marry him off. A few more years at home and he may well have bolted and looked for a different life. 

  I TOTALLY agree with you...I think jim bob and michelle put a great deal of thought in their selection of  joshs wife to be....they  had a list of things  and anna fit the bill... she lived several states away, from a  very poor family, she toes the cult line,  they looked for someone who would never  question and would never leave.  

[Cinnabon]

1 hour ago, Jeeves said:

I thought about that. What I meant when I said she "seems to like [child-rearing] and to be pretty good at it," was that she appears to be good at handling the daily life of her family and seems genuinely interested in her kids' activities and development. Her kids in photos typically look better dressed and put-together than Michelle's younger kids, for instance.

I don't know that Anna knew about the CSAM until the charges were filed, so I'm not going to say she knowingly continued to live with a man who did that. She did stick by him after the molestations were publicly disclosed and then his Ashley Madison-related activities and adult porn watching were revealed. I think that women who aren't in any kind of fundie cults have made similar marital decisions. 

IMO the whole IFB/Duggar/IBLP world is sick and twisted and f*cked as all getout, and I respect your opinion that Anna's not a good mother. I was just trying to look at where Anna's head is likely to be, and I think she wants to keep on raising her kids inside the Duggar circle, no matter where Josh-U-a ends up. And unlike Michelle, Anna has appeared to like daily hands-on motherhood. 

She may be a good day to day mother. I think her IG pictures are staged to the hilt, so I don’t know if those represent their daily life or not.

Edited September 19, 2021 by Cinnabon

[hathorlive]

6 hours ago, drafan said:

Jana has never had a job in her life. She posts carefully curated pictures of herself "decorating", "organizing", or "crafting".

I don't know. I think raising 15 of your siblings and running the house is a pretty big job.

[Lady Whistleup]

It doesn't appear that Anna's family is being very  proactive in setting Anna up for success after Smuggar goes to jail.

Leaving an awful/abusive/criminal husband is always hard. You can be the strongest woman and still find the process of divorce, finding a new job, going back to school, etc. overwhelming. Anna has six kids with another on the way. You don't have to be fundie to find leaving a marriage that has produced 7 kids is overwhelming.

Family support is crucial. It can be the small things -- is a family member willing to open a joint bank account for Anna so she has money that's HERS while receiving some family financial support? Will they co-sign a lease for a new place? Will they support her emotionally? 

I don't see any of this happening for Anna and that's depressing.

[SMama]

39 minutes ago, Cinnabon said:

She may be a good day to day mother. I think her IG pictures are staged to the hilt, so I don’t know if those represent their daily life or not.

IIRC Anna had a helper, Cousin Emily. Anna was presented as a mentor to a child not much older than Mackenzie (sp?). At some point Anna deleted Emily’s pictures from her SM. But she has shown up on the Duggars’ SM. 
 

Then there are the Lost Girls, Anna blamed one of the girls when she couldn’t find an M boy. This happened when they descended on Ginger like the vermin they are. Turns out Ginger had the errant toddler. Anna is not stupid, she is (was) savvy about curating her media to come across as MOTY.

[GeeGolly]

I agree that Anna's SM is a little more curated than her SsIL, but it seems a little more on par with typical real life SM. And when her kids are in candid shots at Duggar events, they always look clean and happy. Lets not forget, she may have been raised Fundy, but she was not raised by the Duggars.

Cooking, cleaning and bathing may have been the norm in her house growing up. And while she, like every Fundy female, prayed for God to send her a husband, she actually had a plan. That plan was totally geared toward Fundy wifedom, but she took early ed courses, to aid in homeschooling and waited to get married until after she finished.

My dislike of Anna has nothing to do with her handling of Josh's scandals, or her capabilities as a mom, but more to do with her hate filled Fundiness.

[lascuba]

12 hours ago, Lady Whistleup said:

It doesn't appear that Anna's family is being very  proactive in setting Anna up for success after Smuggar goes to jail.

Leaving an awful/abusive/criminal husband is always hard. You can be the strongest woman and still find the process of divorce, finding a new job, going back to school, etc. overwhelming. Anna has six kids with another on the way. You don't have to be fundie to find leaving a marriage that has produced 7 kids is overwhelming.

Family support is crucial. It can be the small things -- is a family member willing to open a joint bank account for Anna so she has money that's HERS while receiving some family financial support? Will they co-sign a lease for a new place? Will they support her emotionally? 

I don't see any of this happening for Anna and that's depressing.

She has to want and ask for those things.  A lot of women in bad marriages get really offended and defensive when anyone brings up how bad things seem. There's only so many times one can have their offers of help rebuffed before one decides to mind their business and wait until the loved one comes to them. I'm sure Anna did not take it well when her brother offered help after Ashley Madison. She doesn't want to leave. She might be worried about finances, but only in the context of her husband being in prison, not in the sense of how she'll manage if she leaves him. 

[Chicklet]

Some fundies see suffering as a badge of honor or martyrdom as in my idiot aunt who suffered for decades married to a womanizing drunk who spent all their money at the track, as a bonus. But she LOVED him and divorce wasn't for her. God set her up with a trial. Ok if that works for you, sounds crazy to me. 

[Albanyguy]

2 hours ago, lascuba said:

I'm sure Anna did not take it well when her brother offered help after Ashley Madison.

And Anna, who is as deep into the Gothard Kool-Aid as anyone can get, would never accept help from a family member who has turned his back on their faith and is headed for burning in Hell. To her, allowing her children to live under her unbeliever brother's roof would put their souls in far greater danger than anything that could happen to them at the Duggar compound.

[Zella]

I don't really consider Anna a good mother, but I definitely think she has much better housekeeping/home management skills than her in-laws. Her parents are weirdos in their own right, but it does seem like they taught their girls much better domestic skills than the Duggar girls got. 

[CandyCaneTree]

I was wondering does anyone know what happened to cousin Emily because she was living with them and taking care of the kids?

[dargosmydaddy]

2 minutes ago, CandyCaneTree said:

I was wondering does anyone know what happened to cousin Emily because she was living with them and taking care of the kids?

She has been seen on the Duggar family Instagram as recently as last October. The Duggars haven't been posting much since the arrest, so fewer chances for her to pop up, but I know she was appearing in friends-of-Duggar posts on the Duggar compound, and one of her older brothers also seemed to frequently be around. Unclear if she's actually living in TTH, or just a frequent visitor, but she seems tight with Johannah.

[floridamom]

9 year old 'cousin Emily' was Anna's au pair, (unpaid, of course). So sorry for that little girl.

[GeeGolly]

Anna got stuck with the likes of Josh.

How do you all think Jill, Jessa, Jinger or Joy would handle a similar situation? Do you think any of them would leave their spouse for cheating? Or viewing CPA?

[libgirl2]

22 hours ago, Zella said:

I don't really consider Anna a good mother, but I definitely think she has much better housekeeping/home management skills than her in-laws. Her parents are weirdos in their own right, but it does seem like they taught their girls much better domestic skills than the Duggar girls got. 

A good mother wouldn't chose a pedophile over her children. She could get help if she really wanted to. It would be difficult, but women in her position have done it. I just watched something on ID about a woman in a horribly abusive marriage. She tried once and he had the house bugged. She found the bugs. She finally did it and got her kids out of there. It ended tragically when her new husband was killed by the Ex, but in the end, her kids were safe. 

 

[Rootbeer]

1 hour ago, GeeGolly said:

Anna got stuck with the likes of Josh.

How do you all think Jill, Jessa, Jinger or Joy would handle a similar situation? Do you think any of them would leave their spouse for cheating? Or viewing CPA?

I think they might, at least if it became public.  If everything was kept on the down-low, like Josh's assaults on young girls was kept quiet for years, I think the family would pressure them to stay-for Jesus, you know.

[BitterApple]

I don't think any of them would divorce for cheating. I think CP is a toss-up. 

[Zella]

50 minutes ago, libgirl2 said:

A good mother wouldn't chose a pedophile over her children. She could get help if she really wanted to. It would be difficult, but women in her position have done it. I just watched something on ID about a woman in a horribly abusive marriage. She tried once and he had the house bugged. She found the bugs. She finally did it and got her kids out of there. It ended tragically when her new husband was killed by the Ex, but in the end, her kids were safe. 

 

That's part of why I don't think she's a good mother. I also think pimping your kids out to social media to pretend your miserable life is storybook happy is also not good parenting. 

[lascuba]

 

1 hour ago, GeeGolly said:

Anna got stuck with the likes of Josh.

How do you all think Jill, Jessa, Jinger or Joy would handle a similar situation? Do you think any of them would leave their spouse for cheating? Or viewing CPA?

They'd all stay for cheating, though Jessa, at least, would make Ben's life as miserable as possible--deliberately, this time.

For something like CP--honestly, I think every one of them would refuse to believe it, so there'd be no question of them leaving. IF they can manage to be convinced, Jinger and Joy would stay and publicly insist on their husbands' innocence.

Jill--I just can't see her ever believing that Derick would do that no matter what the evidence. Believing it would mean considering leaving Derick, which would mean either going back to her family and being all in with the, or being on her own completely. For whatever "moving on" she'd done from her family, it's all by Derick's lead. I don't think she could continue that without him. As codependent as they all are, Jill especially can't fathom being on her own. If Derick were to go to prison, she'd move in the TTH until he was released.

Jessa...I can't even guess. I think she'd be the most easily convinced by any evidence, since she's not the "blinded by love" type, but as for what she'd do? It's a toss-up. I can see her being heavily swayed by what JM and Michelle tell her and sticking to the "all porn is evil, we're going to work on fixing Ben's addiction" party line. I can also imagine something like this being the trigger that makes her go full scorched earth on her family and belief system. Or she might never live with Ben again but never divorce him either so as not to totally cross that heathen line. Or, if he were to get convicted and put in prison for long enough, I could see her intending to stick it out and then with the passage of time and being away from him, decide to end thing and move on.

[Rootbeer]

50 minutes ago, Zella said:

That's part of why I don't think she's a good mother. I also think pimping your kids out to social media to pretend your miserable life is storybook happy is also not good parenting. 

Not just pimping out her kids, but Anna's multiple declarations on social media that Josh is simply the best husband and father ever makes me feel like she's not a good mother, either.  While I think her kids are a little young to know exactly what sort of scum their father is, they are not too young to know that Daddy has a lot of problems and Mommy should not be pretending on social media that he's doing well when he clearly isn't.  

Someday, maybe not until they're adults, those kids are going to find out what sort of heinous human being their father really is and wonder why their mother always pretended he was so perfect when everyone knew he was not.

[Zella]

4 minutes ago, Rootbeer said:

Not just pimping out her kids, but Anna's multiple declarations on social media that Josh is simply the best husband and father ever makes me feel like she's not a good mother, either.

Yes that was really gross too! I suspect Anna is, deep down, trying to convince herself as much as anyone else, but there was something almost Jessa-like about those posts. Doubling down for the sheer spite of it to prove to the world how wrong they are.

[Absolom]

21 minutes ago, lascuba said:

As codependent as they all are, Jill especially can't fathom being on her own. If Derick were to go to prison, she'd move in the TTH until he was released.

I think Jill would go live with Cathy if it was offered.

[lascuba]

41 minutes ago, Absolom said:

I think Jill would go live with Cathy if it was offered.

That could be as well. But since Cathy would 100% support Derick no matter what the evidence the end results is still Jill staying with him.

[Cinnabon]

9 hours ago, floridamom said:

9 year old 'cousin Emily' was Anna's au pair, (unpaid, of course). So sorry for that little girl.

Illegal child labor 😥

[Scarlett45]

3 hours ago, lascuba said:

Jessa...I can't even guess. I think she'd be the most easily convinced by any evidence, since she's not the "blinded by love" type, but as for what she'd do? It's a toss-up. I can see her being heavily swayed by what JM and Michelle tell her and sticking to the "all porn is evil, we're going to work on fixing Ben's addiction" party line. I can also imagine something like this being the trigger that makes her go full scorched earth on her family and belief system. Or she might never live with Ben again but never divorce him either so as not to totally cross that heathen line. Or, if he were to get convicted and put in prison for long enough, I could see her intending to stick it out and then with the passage of time and being away from him, decide to end thing and move on.

Taking this to the Jessa thread. 

[drafan]

On 9/18/2021 at 8:45 PM, hathorlive said:

I don't know. I think raising 15 of your siblings and running the house is a pretty big job.

I think this is also part of the carefully curated persona of Jana......even more so as the other J-slaves were sold off and she was getting to be an old maid....that's when the constant pix of her gardening, renovating, Home Depoting, decorating, etc started.