‘Shiny Happy People: Duggar Family Secrets’ all four episodes debuted on Prime Video on Friday, and PEOPLE is breaking down the most shocking revelations to come out of the docuseries.
Shiny Happy People: Duggar Family Secrets on Prime Video revealed a lot of disturbing information about the Duggar family and its contentious religion, the Institute in Basic Life Principles.
The four-part limited series’ disturbing ties to a radical religious movement were examined in the Friday debut of the otherwise perfect family. This demonstrated how the group had an adverse impact on the once-adored TLC family, who had since been involved in a number of scandals. The organization’s efforts to ingratiate itself with higher governmental structures are also explored, as are the many abuse levels that are directed at its most defenceless members.
Although Jim Bob and Michelle Duggar’s approach to parenting their large family and IBLP take centre stage in the project, Josh Duggar, the eldest brother, is also the subject of criticism. (Josh previously admitted to cheating on his wife Anna Duggar and sexually abusing children as a kid, including two of his sisters. He received a sentence of more than 12 years in jail in May 2022 for possessing and receiving child porn.)
The series features cameos by Jill (Duggar) Dillard and her husband Derick Dillard, Amy (Duggar) King and her husband Dillon King, and Jim Bob’s sister Deanna Jordan.
The biggest revelations are listed below.
Before they got married, Josh Duggar’s parents had no intention of telling his first girlfriend’s family about his sexual assault.
Prior to his September 2008 wedding to Anna, Josh had first requested that Jim Holt, a close friend of Jim Bob’s, court his oldest daughter Kaleigh “for the purpose of marriage.” But the Holt family had no idea that Josh and his family had been concealing his sexual abuse, which they had first discovered in 2003.
Jim Holt stated, “We only learned about it when he was 15 but he had apparently been doing it since he was 12.” “[We asked], ‘When were you gonna tell us?’” Michelle responded, “We were never going to have them inform you guys. Once they were wed, we were going to have Josh confess to Kaleigh. So, are you basically saying you were going to use my daughter as like, a bait to encourage him to behave the proper way? I queried. “Well, yeah,” responds [Jim Bob]. Sort of.”
Jim Holt said how Jim Bob, a former lawmaker, had created a bill for the website for sex offenders: “I said, ‘Jim Bob, according to your own bill and that you’ve written and what you’ve told me, your kid should be on it. He ought to turn himself in and make things right with the law because he broke it.
Josh Duggar allegedly confessed to State Trooper Joseph Hutchens, who eventually took no action since he was friends with Jim Bob Duggar, according to Jim Holt.
Jim Bob summoned Jim Holt to attend the father-son duo at the State Troopers’ office where the eldest Duggar sibling would confess to his wrongdoing after Jim Holt learned what Josh had done. But nothing happened in the end.
The State Trooper got comfortable and began telling him the tale. Jim Holt remembered, “Josh told him what we felt at the time was all he had done. Then he added, “But if you do it again, I’m really going to come down hard on you.” He responded, “I’m going to let you go this time.”
“We discovered later that this guy [Joseph Hutchens] was a friend of Jim Bob,” Jim Holt stated.
Josh Duggar’s parents admitted him to a “troubled boys” facility after learning of his sexual misconduct.
Bobye Holt, the late Jim Holt’s wife, described how worried Jim Bob was about what to do with Josh following the confession. Josh was taken to the “troubled boys” facility run by IBLP founder Bill Gothard in Little Rock, Arkansas, since it was thought that it would be best to “get him out of the house.”
Amy Duggar King reflected on that period and admitted she had been concerned about Josh. She was informed, however, that “Oh, he is helping families build homes.” But Amy “knew something was off” right away.
Josh’s family prepared for their Parents photograph and interview while he was abroad, which ultimately resulted to them getting their own series. Although Josh wasn’t there, his parents eventually “brought him back” early, claiming it was for Jim Bob’s birthday.
In order to rescue the family’s program when Josh Duggar’s abuse came to light, Jill Duggar Dillard and Jessa Duggar Seewald gave the infamous Megyn Kelly interview.
Josh’s sexual assault omission came to light, and Jill and her husband Derick Dillard claimed Jim Bob engaged Chad Gallagher, Mike Huckabee’s political advisor, to assist the family move forward. Jill stated that at the time, Gallagher set up a Megyn Kelly interview at Fox News to “get it to where TLC would be cool with moving forward with the show.”
Jill said, “In hindsight, I wouldn’t have done the Megyn Kelly stuff,” before breaking down in tears. “I felt like I was back in a position where I was carrying the weight and the burden… Despite volunteering, you still feel compelled to assist.
Derick, however, declared that he would not “call it voluntary” since they were being “called on to carry out a suicide mission,” adding that they were compelled to “take the fall” because “the show could not fail.”
He continued, “They were going to do everything they could to receive the return on their investment. “If that meant collateral damage, then that meant collateral damage.”
Amy Duggar King, a cousin of Jill’s, added that the interview seemed “a little bit scripted” and “forced.”
Jill Duggar, Josh Duggar’s sister, was “prepared” to testify against him in court following his arrest for possessing sexual assault materials.
The accusation Josh’s case involved considering the viability of using the alleged earlier abuse as evidence against him. She had “prepared” herself to take the stand because Jill was directly affected by that.
Everyone is obviously reluctant to testify, but she said, “I was ready to testify against my brother.” They probably found what they needed elsewhere and didn’t need my testimony, I suppose.
Former family friend Bobye Holt took the stand even though Jill didn’t. Bobye described the process as a “relief” once it was through. “The jury got to see that there was a pattern in Josh’s life that he began early on, and he got by with it time and time again,” she said.
According to allegations, Jim Bob Duggar defrauded his kids out of financial support for the TLC show, and they had no say in what was broadcast.
When it came to filming, the Duggar children didn’t have many options.
According to Jill Duggar Dillard, her father Jim forced the kids sign a contract committing them to the TLC show for five years without explaining what they were signing. Furthermore, Jill asserted that her parents “signed for a bunch of the kids who were no longer minors.”
Derek Dillard, Jill’s husband, claimed that by choosing not to have the private moment captured on camera, they “lost” the battle when the time came for Jill to give birth to her first child. “We worked a lot and kept diaries. So they still have the video, Jill continued.
What’s worse is that Jill and the other Duggar women did not receive any cash reward for their efforts. “After Israel was born, we begged TLC to pay us enough only to cover what our out-of-pocket payments were for health insurance for Israel’s birth,” Jill stated, adding, “They said they paid the family. “Paid the family” indicates that we are no longer entitled to anything. Well, we paid your dad, so bring it up with him, they said.
Jill said that she “never received any payout” throughout her time on the show. Nothing, not a cheque, nor cash. I was never paid for seven and a half years of my adult life,” she continued.
Jill and Derek’s partnership with TLC “came to an end” when they understood that in order for Jim Bob to pay them, they would need to consent to sign a “forever” contract with her dad’s production firm.
The Duggar family’s home TV reportedly cost money, which TLC is said to have helped pay for.
The original Duggar-focused specials on the network were filmed in a modest 2-400 square foot house in Arkansas, which had only two bathrooms. However, they later relocated to a larger house in the neighbourhood, one that had roughly 7000 square feet.
For all of us, there were a lot more bathrooms. Like nine bathrooms,” Jill remarked.
Jim Holt, a former family friend, however, claimed that “Jim Bob needed help finishing his house. The program arranged for assistance in finishing his $200, multiple hundred thousand dollar, mansion.
One female former IBLP member claimed that Gothard’s van would “get chosen” for ladies under the age of 18.
“There was always a girl sitting next to him. The level of petting varied from gentle to vigorous. She said, “His hand on knees, up skirts. “We never discussed it. I was aware of the peculiarity but was unaware of the improperness. He had previously tried to push our limits in so many other ways that he didn’t need to.
Another woman alleged that Gothard would disregard the “six-inch rule” designed to prevent people of different sexes from approaching one another too closely. He started to repeatedly cross the line by caressing the young girls in an inappropriate way on a weekly basis, and it became “routine” for him.
IBLP discouraged kids from speaking up and favoured corporal punishment.
IBLP, according to one of the ex-members, “believed in physical punishment for merely everything.”
He said, “It was a fear-based tactic and it was very effective,” as another ex-member alleged that “all children, if they were following the institute’s guidelines, you’re spanked until you stop crying, which could be hours.”
Furthermore, Jill Duggar asserts that “having a voice about what you think and how you feel and being able to voice and say no about things was stifled and not encouraged in the IBLP setting [or] in my family.”
Rods were frequently used to beat children as a form of punishment. When asked if she had ever seen something similar with her own cousins, Amy Duggar King sobbed, “They called it encouragement.”
She went on to say that they had actually said, “You need to come into the room and we need to give you some encouragement.” But it said, ‘Do you need encouragement?’ in the loveliest voice ever. I believe you need to be encouraged.
The church also promoted a technique known as “blanket training,” in which a child, sometimes an infant, is placed on a blanket. They would receive hand slaps until they “broke the rebellious spirit” if they reached for the object of desire placed near them. (Michelle Duggar’s book The Duggars: 20 and Counting! : How They Raise One of America’s Biggest Families.)
“It’s absolutely designed to groom victims to be ready for more predators later on as adults, as young adults,” another former member said. “When you’re told to not resist when your parents are hitting you as a child because it’s for your own good [and] when you believe that your body belongs to the church and to the authorities that be.” “Everything about it makes you the ideal victim,” the speaker said.
The schooling that the Duggar kids and other youngsters in IBLP got was subpar.
Bill Gothard advocated for homeschooling as a form of instruction. The Advanced Training Institute (ATI) of the organization, however, would be attended by the Duggar children.
Jill Duggar Dillard remembered, “We were part of ATI from as early as I can remember.” “We like attending ATI conferences. They had one conference a year at the time. I got the impression that many in ATI were very worried about their children receiving any type of public education because they were afraid they would be brainwashed, which is accurate. Things like that can occur.
Children in the church were required to study the Wisdom Booklets, which, according to one ex-member, “no such thing” as good education. Another ex-member claimed that the publications are “poorly sourced” and are filled with “complete utter made-up nonsense.”
