Life after scandal. 19 Kids and Counting alums Jill and Jessa Duggar revealed in a new promo for their upcoming TLC special, Jill & Jessa: Counting On, that they were just as shocked as the rest of the world when their brother Josh Duggar‘s scandals broke this past year.
The promo, released Sunday, Oct. 18, by the network, shows the sisters reflecting back on the bombshell news. “Here I am, most joyful time in my life — newlywed, baby on the way — and then…” Jessa, 22, recalls. “We were devastated. Like, we couldn’t believe it. You have to wonder, like, ‘How did this happen?'”
“The whole world was shocked,” her emotional big sister Jill, 25, shared. “I’ve cried a lot of tears. I still do. I don’t know, I’m hurting.”
Josh was at the forefront of two scandals to hit the Duggar family in 2015. In May, it was revealed that Josh had molested girls while he was underage in 2002. Later, it was revealed that two of his five victims were Jill and Jessa.
In August, Josh — along with several other celebrities including Josh Taekman — was exposed in the mega Ashley Madison data breach, which revealed the identities, emails, and information of millions of users on the infidelity website. Josh reportedly had not one, but two subscriptions on the site, and listed interests like “one-night stands,” “experimenting with sex toys,” and more salacious information.
The eldest Duggar child, 27, who shares four children with his wife, Anna, subsequently released an apology statement on the Duggar family’s website. “I have been the biggest hypocrite ever,” he said at the time. “While espousing faith and family values, I have secretly over the last several years been viewing pornography on the internet and this became a secret addiction and I became unfaithful to my wife. I am so ashamed of the double life that I have been living and am grieved for the hurt, pain and disgrace my sin has caused my wife and family, and most of all Jesus and all those who profess faith in Him.”
He subsequently checked into rehab. TLC, meanwhile, canceled the family’s wildly popular TV series, 19 Kids and Counting, in July.
Despite the tough last year, the sisters expressed hope in their new promo. “We do feel like we’re stepping on,” Jill reflected. “We will come out of this fire stronger as a family unit.”
Watch Jill and Jessa’s promo above.
