Jim Bob and Michelle Duggar recently celebrated the 29th birthday of their first-born son Josh, which seemed nice enough on the surface.
Of course, this is the Duggar family we’re talking about, and the manner in which they recognized this day has the rumor mill churning.
In their blog post commemorating Josh Duggar’s birthday, they wished him a “wonderful year” along with his “amazing wife” Anna Duggar.
“Happy birthday, Josh. We love you, your amazing wife and sweet children. We pray that you diligently follow and serve the Lord,” they said.
Then came the part that Duggar Nation is puzzled by.
“We know you all have been eager to see a new photo of Josh and Anna Duggar and their four children,” Jim Bob and Michelle told fans.
“For posterity, we have also included a couple of old photos of Josh,” the family wrote on its blog, implying the above pic was the latest.
Not surprisingly, Duggar fans everywhere quickly speculated that something was amiss – and noticed that the family portrait is not new.
Note the identical outfits worn in this photo from last fall.
In late September, the Duggars released this image to mark the eighth wedding anniversary of Anna and Josh, her disgraced husband.
It’s also fairly clear that the couple’s youngest child, Meredith, appears younger than her current age – 20 months old – in the picture.
Are fans reading too much into the fact that Jim Bob and Michelle recycled a photo from the fall of 2016 to celebrate a March birthday?
Probably, but given all they’ve been through, and the frequent divorce rumors, it’s fueled talk that all is not well between Anna and Josh.
Many believe that since Josh was busted using OK Cupid and Ashley Madison, he has yet to fully repair his broken marriage to Anna.
“I don’t believe Josh can be ‘cured’ but I do not wish Anna or the kids harm,” writes one fan on the Duggar-obsessive site Free Jinger.
“I still wish them well … I would like an update with a new family picture for sure,” another follower of the famous family wrote on the site.
“That birthday wish from his parents makes me think that his “treatment/therapy” isn’t working,” says yet another Josh Duggar skeptic.
“As long as he’s been the home you’d expect to hear, ‘we are so proud of the strides that you have taken to better yourself."”
“‘To undo great injustices that you have done,’ or something to that effect. Instead, they said that they love his amazing wife.”
Probably, this fan speculates, this is “for the simple fact that she stayed, and his sweet children… It makes you wonder.”
It certainly does. There’s been little to no information about the couple and their four children since Josh got out of faith-based rehab.
Meanwhile, the Duggar sisters’ courtships, engagements, weddings and pregnancies have fueled TLC’s rebooted 19 Kids & Counting.
Anna did appear on Counting On to lament how much Josh hurt her, but has stood by him and stayed largely out of the public eye.
In May 2016, they said they were “working with a professional marriage and family counselor to take important steps toward healing.”
“Some days are very difficult. It is a long road to rebuild trust and a truly healthy relationship,” the couple added in their rare statement.
On TV, TLC has gone to extreme lengths to keep Josh away from viewers, including these tricks to censor him out of Jinger’s wedding:
On social media, the long-suffering wife been almost totally MIA, having not updated her Instagram account in over a year at this point.
She did recently “like” a quote, which was noticed by fans sparked speculation – as usual – that things are not well between the couple.
Her friend @masiespace shared a quote on IG that reads: “Comparison is the thief of joy,” which Anna liked. Read into it what you will.
The quote could simply mean that comparison keeps people from being happy with their lives, because of the nature of social media.
Or, in Anna’s case, it could mean comparing her life, or her marriage, with those who aren’t trapped with somehow who cheats and lies.
We may never know what’s going on behind closed doors with the pair, but that should only increase the speculation surrounding them.
