LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA: Amy Duggar King is not one of Jim Bob and Michelle Duggar's 19 children but has firsthand knowledge of the family's scandal. On 'TLC's 19 Kids and Counting,' Jim's niece Amy was introduced as a member of the family who was more rebellious and refused to conform to the family's conservative traditions. After starring in '19 Kids and Counting,' eight years later, in 2023, Amy decided to appear in 'Shiny Happy People: Duggar Family Secrets' with her cousin, Jill Duggar Dillard, one of Jim and Michelle's children.
Amy has never been shy to express her feelings about her aunt Michelle and uncle Jim, and now she's talking about her relationship with cousin Jana Duggar. Amy, 36, revealed, "I truly hope to the good Lord above that she is happy and thriving and working through whatever she's experienced, but I have no contact with her."
'I don't know if she's necessarily allowed to contact me'
Amy, 36, stated in a Vanity Fair article published on Wednesday, June 28, that Jana, 33, is still living on her parents' Arkansas farm. She added, "Anyone that lives at home with anyone in the IBLP, you're under their control, so I don't know if she's necessarily allowed to [contact me]." Amy went on to mention the Institute in Basic Life Principles, a conservative Christian sect that Jim Bob, 57, and Michelle, 56, are members of.
Jana is the eldest child of Jim Bob and Michelle, who rose to prominence on the TLC show '19 Kids and Counting On.' The family's spinoff program was terminated when the couple's eldest son, Josh, was arrested in early 2021 on child pornography allegations. Josh, 35, was found guilty in December of that year on two charges of receiving and possessing child pornography and sentenced to more than 12 years in jail.
Amy and other of her family members have since spoken out against their upbringing, most notably in Prime Video's 'Shiny Happy People.' Jana did not participate in the docuseries, but Amy and cousin Jill Duggar came out against IBLP, while Jinger Duggar talked up about her experience in the January biography 'Becoming Free Indeed: My Story of Disentangling Faith From Fear.
'My upbringing was built on fear and manipulation'
Before her book's release, Jinger, 29, said, "[My upbringing] was built on fear, manipulation, control and superstition, so all those things combined in how hard it is for kids to leave or adults to leave — anyone, really. Once you hear the teachings, you're not supposed to depart from those," as reported by USmagazine.
