Yesterday, a People magazine profile of Anna Duggar earned a surprising amount of attention online.
The magazine has always taken a more favorable stance on the Duggar family than most media outlets, and their depiction of Josh’s long-suffering wife was predictably glowing.
But the descriptions of Anna’s “fun” personality are not the reason that the piece gained so much traction on the Internet.
In fact, it seems the article was circulated largely by Duggar detractors who were harshly critical of Anna on the People website.
Some of the more scathing comments include:
“Anna is the poster child of why a woman needs to have an education, or something to fall back on, so they don’t find themselves trapped in a marriage, because they have no where to go.”
“This entire family is gross! They are nothing but a family cult! I stopped watching TLC because I was tired of seeing this family promoted. They just need to move on and go away!”
“Oh she’ll be pregnant again before this article is off the news stand.. All faith will be restored.”
The article contained insiders’ accounts of Anna’s childhood, but while her family has been described as even more devoutly religious than the Duggars, the author mostly glossed over the strict nature of Anna’s upbringing.
Many commenters took notice of this and pointed out that understanding Anna’s past is important to understanding why she’ll never divorce Josh Duggar, despite his many transgressions.
From a young age, Anna was taught that marriage is for life and wives are to stick by their husbands even in cases of infidelity and abuse.
It seems to be a belief that she’s carried with her into adulthood.
As for the comment suggesting that Anna and Josh are likely to expand their family soon, it looks as though it may be dead-on.
Reports that Anna is pregnant with her fifth child began to circulate shortly after Josh left rehab.
