Jinger Duggar Vuolo, former star of 19 Kids and Counting, has officially spoken out about her other brother Josh Duggar’s arrest. In an interview for Tamron Hall earlier today, the former TLC star remarked that she hasn’t seen any ‘real change’ in her brother following his 2021 arrest and later sentencing in May of last year.
Josh Duggar, the oldest son of Jim Bob and Michelle Duggar and the first of nineteen children was arrested on two counts of knowingly receiving and possessing child pornography in December 2021. One of the two charges was later dropped at his initial hearing as Josh’s attorney, Justin Gelfand, entered a not-guilty plea on his behalf, according to US Magazine. While he was out on bail, it was decided Josh would not be able to live with nor have any unsupervised contact with minors, in addition to being tracked by GPS whenever he left the house where he was staying.
In May 2022, Josh Duggar was sentenced to 151 months, or 12.5 years, in an Arkansas state prison with an inability to be considered for parole until 2032. After his release from prison, he will be supervised by a parole officer for another 20 years and still be unable to have any unsupervised contact with minors, including his own children, the last of which was born days before his arrest.
Josh’s younger sister Jinger Duggar Vuolo – the sixth Duggar child – has spoken out against her brother’s crimes before, even as other family members, like Jim Bob, Michelle, and Josh’s wife Anna, pledged their support to the eldest Duggar son. Following Josh’s initial hearing in April 2021, Jinger and her husband, Jeremy Vuolo, posted a statement on Instagram, stating that they were “disturbed” to hear about the charges brought against Josh and that they “absolutely condemn any form of child abuse and fully support authorities and judicial process in their pursuit of justice.”
Jinger Duggar Vuolo Says Josh Duggar ‘Has Not Truly Changed’
Earlier today, Jinger Duggar Vuolo, 29, made an appearance on Tamron Hall to celebrate the release of her new book Breaking Free Indeed, where Jinger recounts how her relationship with religion and life itself has changed since becoming an adult and leaving the strict church she and her siblings were raised in, which Jinger has previously called ‘cult-like’ to practice religion on her own terms. When asked about her older brother Josh, she admitted that she “hadn’t spoken to him in years” and “I just pray for the victims and their families.”
Speaking on the themes of change and redemption, both seen in her new book, Jinger Duggar Vuolo gave the following statement:
“I think that part of this story that I’m telling is you can’t put up all of these outward standards and rules and say that’s going to do anything. It’s not. Your heart has to be changed from the inside out and only Jesus can truly change that,” she said, per PEOPLE Magazine. “That’s not something I saw in my brother. He’s not truly changed. So until God does that, it’s only what God can do.”
Jinger would later add that it’s “really tough” to adjust when asked if she still saw Josh as her brother, stating that her “heart breaks” for the victims of Josh’s crimes and their families, “and that’s who I pray for first.”
Jinger Duggar’s new book, Breaking Free Indeed, is available for purchase starting today.
