Jessa Duggar was fondled by her older brother Josh Duggar, the reality TV star told Fox News on Wednesday, and her parents Jim Bob and Michelle Duggar confirmed their son also fondled three of his other sisters and a babysitter – all five of them underage at the time.
Jessa Duggar, featured like her brother in the family's TLC series, "19 Kids and Counting," told Fox in an interview conducted in Arkansas on Wednesday that she wanted to defend him. She said allegations he's a child molester or pedophile are "so overboard and a lie," Fox reported.
The Associated Press generally does not identify victims of sexual mistreatment. But Jessa Duggar was speaking publicly in an interview with Fox's Megyn Kelly who also interviewed her parents. Fox distributed Jessa Duggar's quote on Wednesday, but it didn't show it during a one-hour special about the case, with Kelly instead saying Fox would air the interviews with Jessa Duggar and her sister Jill Duggar on Friday.
Jim Bob and Michelle Duggar said Josh Duggar, who's now 27, fondled four of his sisters and a family baby sitter when he was a teenager and confessed to them. The fondling was done over the girls' clothes and, except in two cases, happened when the girls were asleep, Jim Bob Duggar said.
Josh Duggar apologized for unspecified bad behavior two weeks ago when the story came to light and resigned as a lobbyist for the Family Research Council, a conservative Christian group.
"I would do anything to go back to those teen years and take different actions," Duggar wrote online. "In my life today, I am so very thankful for God's grace, mercy and redemption."
He has not spoken publicly about fondling his sisters or the baby sitter and was not featured in Fox's interviews.
"He's very sorry," Michelle Duggar said in the interview, wiping away tears.
She said the fondling devastated her and her husband and made them question whether they had failed as parents.
Arkansas police last month said they had destroyed a record outlining a nearly decade-old investigation into Josh Duggar. No charges were filed in the abuse, which happened in 2002 and 2003. Police began investigating the abuse in 2006 when tipped by a family friend but concluded the statute of limitations had lifted.
Jim Bob Duggar said that before that investigation he had taken Josh Duggar to a Christian counselor and separately had him tell the stories to a state police officer near their home.
"We had all resolved it, we had forgiven, we had moved on in life," Michelle Duggar said.
"19 Kids and Counting" is one of TLC's most popular shows, coming off a season of strong ratings after featuring the weddings of Jessa Duggar and Jill Duggar. TLC pulled reruns of the show off the air when allegations concerning Josh Duggar surfaced two weeks ago. The network has said no decision has been made about whether the series will continue.
Jim Bob Duggar said the family is "fine whether they film us or not."
"We're just going to go on and live life," he said. "We're going to go on and serve God and make a difference in the world."
The couple criticized the leaking of police records on the case as "an unprecedented attack on our family" that should be investigated.
Michelle Duggar said her daughters "have been victimized more by what has happened in the last couple of weeks than they were 12 years ago because, honestly, they didn't even understand and know that anything had happened until after the fact when they were told about it."
Jim Bob Duggar is a former state representative in Arkansas. Some of the state's Republicans, including presidential candidate Mike Huckabee, have expressed support for the family.
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