The pregnant Joy-Anna Duggar is in the middle of the latest scandal to engulf her famous family, and it has to do with her baby.
Specifically, her baby bump. Let us explain …
The 19-year-old first sparked rumors of a shotgun wedding earlier this year when she moved her wedding with then-fiance Austin Forsyth.
Originally scheduled for October 28, the couple’s vows were exchanged in front of 1,000 people on May 26 in their home state of Arkansas.
On its own, that doesn’t tell us a whole lot … the October 28 date (Joy’s birthday) was listed on their registry, but could’ve been a ruse.
It wouldn’t be out of the realm of possibility for Joy to want to keep the date secret, or as secret as a mega-church event like that can be.
Were there other motives at work, though?
When Joy-Anna announced her pregnancy, just three months had passed since the wedding … but her large baby bump shocked fans.
Take a look at the new photo above now.
Joy posted the image this week. If you assume she got pregnant on her wedding night, she’d be in her 15th week (14 weeks, 5 days).
All women “show” differently of course, but to many observers, this does not look like a baby bump that appears just after the first trimester.
This wouldn’t typically be subject to intense debate, of course, but this is a family that doesn’t permit full-frontal HUGS before engagement.
Premarital sex, it goes without saying, simply does not happen, so the idea that Joy and Austin partook in that would be … well, it’d be something.
All of this has fueled rumors that she had secretly conceived the child before her wedding and rushed the wedding to avoid a scandal.
It certainly makes for good gossip, but there were other events leading up to this that gave fans pause – or at least made them wonder.
Joy and Austin, 23, blatantly broke courtship rules by showing physical affection for each other prior to him asking for her hand in marriage.
Austin defied Jim Bob Duggar’s PDA protocol by touching Joy-Anna’s hand, on camera no less, and she even sat on his lap. His LAP!
We know, it sounds ridiculous, but combined with the fact that they were also hugging – frontal style – after Austin’s marriage proposal?
And the fact that Anna Duggar hates Austin, who she considers arrogant, immature, and a bad influence of questionable character?
Let’s just say rumors spread for a reason.
Following the shocking scene airing on TLC, Forsyth addressed the fact that his hardcore hug was indeed a violation of his stated guidelines.
His response, and Joy’s, are telling.
“We’re humans and sometimes we don’t always abide perfectly by our rules,” Austin acknowledged. “We try. That was a real hard try.”
“I thought it was just us there,” Joy-Anna added, regarding the fact that she was busted on camera, “and that was really special.”
A real hard try? Really man?
Joy revealing that she didn’t know cameras were on her is also interesting. What else did they do when cameras actually weren’t rolling?
Mr. and Mrs. Forsyth have yet to discuss the shotgun wedding rumors, but an in-law of the Forsyth family briefly did touch upon them.
His brother-in-law Robert says that the family is aware of allegations and how it could damage their reputation a la Josh Duggar.
Well then … we wouldn’t go that far.
Josh’s dueling scandals involved him molesting four of his sisters, then cheating on his long-suffering wife, while espousing family values.
Pretty bad. We see Robert’s point, though … not that it should matter, he says, because “I’ve heard those rumors, but they’re not true.”
“People are too nosy,” he said.
Despite the pregnancy being overshadowed by the shotgun wedding talk, he said of Joy-Anna’s baby, “I guess it’s great. I’m very excited.”
Yeah. We guess.
Another insider (not named Anna Duggar) says that “there has been a lot of talk about the character of her new husband Austin.”
While the Duggars see him as “more of a rebel child” than they might prefer, the Forsyths are happy with Joy, according to Rob.
“I love her,” he told Radar Online.
“She fits very well in the family.”
Talk to us: Did Joy-Anna wed Austin too quickly, and did she engage in premarital sex, which would defy all that Jim Bob stands for?
If she came out and admitted that yes, they had sex before their wedding and she’s actually 21 weeks along, how would that go over?
As rebellions against the family orthodoxy go, there’s Jinger Duggar wearing short sleeves and then there’s … that. Can you imagine?
