Josh Duggar is embroiled in yet another scandal. The hackers who broke into ashleymadison.com leaked the names of the website’s members. Marriages are now in danger. The site is for the use of married people who want to have sexual hookups with other married people. Basically, it’s a site for cheaters, and it has been revealed on Aug. 20 that Duggar had at least one, but possibly two, accounts on the site while married to his wife.
Josh Duggar has released a public apology, his parents have released a statement expressing their sadness about the situation, and it sounds like devastating news for Josh’s wife Anna. The couple has already been through a lot with this year's public revelation that Josh sexually molested several girls (almost all of whom are his sisters) as a teenage boy. Now, his public admission that he is still committing sexual indiscretions is incredibly unfortunate news.
When someone who is known for being a religious beacon engages in the kinds of behavior that Josh has, and that behavior becomes public knowledge, it does not bode well for the sinner. Josh himself has already suffered for the child molestation scandal. “19 Kids and Counting,” the Duggar family reality show, was canceled by TLC after InTouch broke the news of the twelve year old police report. Josh gave up his leadership position as executive director of Family Research Council.
Other men known for their piety, and certainly more powerful than Josh has ever been, have been embroiled in sex scandals at some point in their careers. They did not seem to be helped by public apologies. Rachel Maddow once covered this issue on her show. As much as she tried to make the topic humorous, it’s actually very sad to watch her run through the clips of various televangelists discussing their extramarital affairs.
Watching that first clip of Joni Lamb dab her eyes with a tissue after revealing her husband, also a televangelist, had cheated on her is difficult. Next is a clip of former married televangelists Jim and Tammy Faye Bakker talking to a newscaster about accusations of Jim having cheated on Tammy. Maddow moves onto yet another clip, and it's of Jimmy Swaggart sobbing into a camera, asking forgiveness from God for having cheated on his wife with a prostitute. The last televangelist she features is Ted Haggard, a clip which is easier to take. He appears incredibly composed on camera while discussing having an extramarital affair with a male prostitute/masseuse and buying methamphetamine from him. Still, regardless of how dramatic or toned down the behavior of the televangelists were, it’s still sad any time families have to go through so much pain.
Josh Duggar is no longer a public figure, but his sins are still up for public display. It's sad that he can't escape the public eye and start his life over. What’s even sadder is that he feels he needs to respond to the public when he has no obligation to do so. He’s no longer on “19 Kids and Counting.” There is no TV show for him to save, but he still doesn't get to move on.