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Amy Duggar is recalling the conversation she had with cousin Joseph Duggar’s alleged victim.
“I don’t want to speak for her or anything like that, but I will just tell you when I talked to this person, I just gave her hope,” Amy, 39, shared on the Tuesday, July 14, episode of “The Sarah Fraser Show” podcast. “I said, ‘This doesn’t have to destroy you. It really truly doesn’t.’ I just tried to offer her encouragement. I told her that if she ever just needed a safe place to talk, that I’m here.”
Joseph, 31, was arrested in March after being accused of molesting a 9-year-old girl during a family vacation in 2020. He was charged with lewd and lascivious molestation of a child under 12 and lewd and lascivious conduct by a person 18 or older. He entered a written not guilty plea later in the month and requested a jury trial.
In her latest interview with podcast host Sarah Fraser, Amy advised the alleged victim to consider counseling as she heals from the public case.
“I told her, ‘You speaking out and you being so honest and vulnerable, knowing the backlash and knowing the people that would turn their backs on you and not believe you and all the things, you are such a strong person,’” Amy said. “I hope she sleeps at night. I hope she finds healing.”
The former 19 Kids and Counting star advised the alleged victim — whose name has yet to be publicly revealed — to speak with a professional and “talk it out loud.”
“It’s not on her,” Amy argued. “She’s been shamed her entire life through the IBLP friendships and all of that that it is her fault. That’s what they teach. … I just offered her my entire support.”
The Duggar family are high-profile followers of the Institute in Basic Life Principles (IBLP), an ultra-conservative, non-denominational Christian organization founded by Bill Gothard in 1961.
Elsewhere in the interview, Amy was asked why she thinks Joseph pleaded not guilty to his charges. (According to an affidavit obtained by Us, Joseph allegedly “admitted his actions, stating he touched the victim over her clothing” in a “pretext call” with the alleged victim’s father.)
“I think [Joseph’s] had some counsel and I think the counsel is not good. It’s not good counsel,” Amy alleged. “It’s not healthy. It’s not real. It’s not going to be truthful.”
Joseph was released from custody on a $600,000 bond in late March after entering his plea and has been prohibited from contacting the alleged victim.
In June, the judge handling his case denied a motion filed by Joseph’s legal team to perform work at several rental properties he owns, which would place him within 500 feet of his alleged victim. The judge also denied a second motion which would have allowed him unsupervised contact with his four children shared with wife Kendra Duggar.
Amy predicted that the state of Florida is “going to throw the book” at her cousin.
“I really do,” the former TLC reality star added. “I don’t think Florida is meeting around.”
If you or someone you know has been sexually assaulted, contact the National Sexual Assault Hotline at 1-800-656-HOPE (4673). If you or someone you know is experiencing child abuse, call or text Child Help Hotline at 1-800-422-4453.
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