Anna Duggar’s dramatic recent weight loss is a visible sign of the enormous stress she has been under as divorce speculation heats up following husband Josh Duggar’s sexual battery lawsuit.
While fans rally around to support Anna, her sister-in-law, Jessa Duggar Seewald, is more than happy to exploit Anna’s marital problems to promote her TV show, “Jill and Jessa: Counting On,” which premieres Dec. 13.
Anna has kept a low profile and has maintained social-media silence since Josh entered rehab for sex and porn addiction in August 2015, but Jessa has been furiously promoting her TV special by posting daily photo and video updates of her son, Spurgeon, and the other Duggar children.
Jessa even posted an Instagram photo of Anna’s daughter, Meredith Grace, who was born in July 2015, even though Anna has not posted any pictures of her own baby. Angry TLC fans have taken notice, and slammed TLC, Jessa, and the entire Duggar family for trying to capitalize on Josh’s sex scandals to drum up interest in “Jill and Jessa: Counting On.”
Fans were especially disgusted after a new promo showed a sad-looking Anna revealing how depressed she was by Josh’s sex scandals. “It was heartbreaking to hear what had happened,” said Anna, who lost a lot of weight after Josh entered rehab. Speculation is mounting that Anna is considering a divorce.
“What is wrong with you, TLC??” wrote one furious viewer. “The world needs to see more of the reproductive maniac, money-grubbing, idiotic Duggars?”
Disgusting how TLC and the Duggars will use Anna to gain sympathy yet dissed her in August for not being joyfully available to her husband. I am done with TLC.”
Another critic wrote: “Hypocrites, beggars, lazy non-working grifters that will do anything for money. Get a freaking job and get Anna and her kids out of there!”
Pimping out Anna now? You money-hungry people will stoop to the lowest of lows.”
Anna is now raising her four children on her own as Josh gets treatment. Josh, 27, has admitted cheating on his wife after hackers leaked details of his two private Ashley Madison accounts.
Josh was recently sued for $500,000 by porn star Danica Dillon, who claimed Josh battered her when the two had sex in March and April 2015. In August 2015, Danica said she had rough sex with Josh on two separate occasions while Anna was pregnant with their fourth child, Celebrity Health & Fitness reported.
In her lawsuit, Dillon said Josh was violent during sex and did not use protection. “He was manhandling me, basically tossing me around like I was a rag doll,” said Danica, 29. “It was very traumatic. I’ve had rough sex before, but this was terrifying.”
In May 2015, TLC canceled “19 Kids and Counting” shortly after Jessa and Jill Duggar confirmed they had been sexually molested as children by their brother Josh. The Duggars have reportedly lost income totaling $25 million a year as a result of lost book deals, endorsements and speaking engagements stemming from their TV show’s cancellation.
In a surprise move, TLC agreed to feature Jessa and Jill in a three-part TV special that will focus on the girls and their newborn babies. Jessa has been posting daily photo updates of her son, Spurgeon, to promote the show.
“Jill & Jessa: Counting On” premieres Dec. 13. The other two parts airs on TLC Dec. 20 and Dec. 27.