Analysis: The Duggars built a wholesome reality TV empire on TLC. Now it’s in ruins
When reality TV star Josh Duggar was convicted this month of receiving and possessing child pornography, it brought a shocking end to the Duggars’ decade-plus reign as the Fundamentalist Kardashians.
On their TLC shows “19 Kids and Counting” and “Counting On,” the ultra-conservative Arkansas clan known for its love of tater tot casserole and the letter J projected a mesmerizing aura of domestic tranquility.
Josh, the eldest of 19 children, was the golden boy, marrying at 20 and accepting an influential job with the Family Research Council’s lobbying arm in Washington, D.C.
Now he’s a convicted sex offender. Over the course of a six-day trial in Fayetteville, prosecutors presented compelling evidence that Duggar used the dark web to download material depicting the sexual abuse of children to a laptop at his car dealership — images a Homeland Security agent described as “in the top five of the worst of the worst that I’ve ever had to examine.” The 33-year-old father of seven faces up to 40 years in prison.
Duggar’s conviction has shaken a wholesome reality TV empire that’s grown larger than the family itself, provoking new scrutiny of TLC’s reliance on shows about large broods with young stars, as well as its role in whitewashing the Duggar family’s views on sex, gender roles and procreation in order to make them more palatable to a mainstream, predominantly female audience.
The case against Josh Duggar
