If you’re a fan of the Duggar clan, you’re probably aware that Joy-Anna Duggar married Austin Forsyth in a secretive ceremony over Memorial Day weekend.
The family went to such great lengths to keep the nuptials low-key that they even posted what appears to have been a fake wedding registry for Joy-Anna that was designed to give the false impression that the wedding wouldn’t take place until October.
It seems like an unnecessarily shady precaution, but the Duggars have gotten used to such cloak-and-dagger operations over the past couple years.
Yes, it’s impossible to talk about any milestone event for the Duggars without mentioning the dark cloud of the Josh Duggar sex scandals that continues to hang over their heads.
The family has made every effort to sweep Josh’s misconduct under the rug, but the fact remains that the same Duggar compound that’s now witness to so many staged scenes of togetherness was the scene of an unknown number of sex crimes.
The same smiling parents who beam with joy as their daughters leave the nest to start families of their own are the same that helped hide Josh’s serial molestations from legal authorities.
Given the horrendous nature of the situation, it’s not surprising that the Duggars have gone to almost laughable lengths to ensure that Josh is not seen on camera during the Counting On‘s highly-publicized wedding specials.
During Jinger Duggar’s wedding back in November, footage was edited to keep Josh off camera using sun spots and other obstructions that were added in post-production.
This time around, Josh, his wife Anna, and the couple’s four kids were nowhere to be found either in the wedding photos released online or in the congratulatory video clips recorded by the other siblings.
Fans were left wondering if Josh was even invited to the wedding, and believe it or not, some expressed pity for the admitted sexual predator.
“No congrats from Josh & Anna and the kids? They are still part of the family,” one follower commented on the family’s Facebook page.
“It would be nice to see them once in awhile!”
Fortunately, Duggar detractors were on hand to keep the situation in perspective:
“I can’t imagine that Joy’s new husband would be all that keen on getting well wishes from the older brother who used to molest her,” wrote one astute observer.
”I’m not being hateful, just stating facts. Josh is kept put of the spotlight because they could lose all sponsorship and their show if he reappears. He’s got major personal problems for this family’s once squeaky clean outer appearance.”
Watch Counting On online to witness the constant effort the Duggars put in to pretending the Josh situation never happened.
