Jim-Bob and Michelle Duggar appeared for most of the hour on The Kelly File on Wednesday night to discuss the scandal over how their eldest son Josh had sexually touched five girls (four of them his sisters) when he was a young teenager.
He confessed to his parents on multiple occasions. Kelly asked, “This is a young boy that has come to you with shocking information. What did you say? How did you respond to him? What was that like, that exchange?”
"There was so much grief in our hearts. I think as parents we felt we’re failures, you know? Here we tried to raise our kids to – to do what’s right and know what’s right. And yet, one of our children made really bad choices and I think, as a parent, we were just – we were devastated," Michelle Duggar said.
Kelly would later ask if the backlash came from people who object to what the Duggars stand for: “Do you feel your Christian belief is involved in this?”
"Christianity is not about being perfect or about being a perfect family, but it’s actually about being forgiven," Jim Bob said. "And so I think, as people on the outside think, 'Well, Christians are supposed to be perfect ... You’re supposed to live this perfect life.' No, you know what? All of us as Christians, we struggle every day."
Jill and Jessa Duggar, two victims of the abuse, will discuss the story further and their pain over the story leaking on Friday’s Kelly File.