The idea of a Duggar divorce seems ridiculous considering the family’s commitment to maintaining the appearance of traditional Christian values.
But as the Josh Duggar sex scandals reminded us, all that glitters is not gold, and when the Duggars go astray, they do so in the most shocking fashion.
Earlier this month, reports of Jim Bob and Michelle Duggar getting divorced began to circulate on social media.
Not surprisingly, the split was rumored to be the result of the ongoing controversy surrounding their handling of Josh’s molestation of his sisters.
As you may know, the Duggars opted to deal with their son’s sex crimes “in-house” rather than reporting him to the authorities, and the results were predictably catastrophic.
Josh continued to molest his younger sisters before being sent off to a sort of faith-based rehabilitation center.
The treatment was prescribed again after the public learned that Josh had cheated on his wife, Anna Duggar.
There was time when it was impossible to imagine that the Duggars would ever land another reality television series, but they did just that with the premiere of Counting On last year.
Now in its second season, the series focuses on the Duggar kids, but Jim Bob and Michelle make frequent cameos.
And what does all of this have to do with the state of their marriage?
Well, there have been reports of Counting On being canceled due to low ratings and the fact that the show has prompted several advertisers to cut ties with the TLC network altogether.
Insiders say their financial troubles and the humiliation of getting booted from the network that made them famous a second time has put a serious strain on the Duggars’ marriage.
Over the weekend, the couple took to Twitter to address the reports that they had decided to call it quits.
Some fans were surprised by the choice of forum, as Jim Bob and Michelle rarely tweet, but there was nothing shocking about the message:
“Don’t believe everything you read in the tabloids! Michelle and I have been married for over 32 years and are more in love than ever!”
The couple added the above photo to underscore their point.
So we guess all is well between Jim Bob and Michelle these days.
Or at least that’s what they would have us believe.
If the the Josh scandals taught us anything, it’s that these two exercise extreme control over the release of information about their personal lives.
