Joy-Anna Duggar Cries as She Says Jinger’s Book Made Her Question Her Religious Beliefs: ‘What Is Even Real’

Counting On alum Joy-Anna Duggar cried as she revealed that her older sister Jinger Duggar’s memoir Becoming Free Indeed: My Story of Disentangling Faith from Fear, in which she untangled her religious upbringing, prompted her to reevaluate her own beliefs.

“And so, I came to a point where I was just like, what is even real?” Joy-Anna, 26, said through tears during the Wednesday, October 16 episode of the “Unplanned” podcast. “What do I believe? Like all this stuff. Is it right? Anyway. Now we can take as much time as we want.”

Jinger, 30, released her memoir in January 2023, where she reflected on the Institute in Basic Life Principles (IBLP), a nondenominational Christian fundamentalist organization that the Duggars were raised to follow by their parents Jim Bob and Michelle Duggar. IBLP has come under fire for its strict rules about the role of men and women, which included limits on dancing and dating. Women were also expected to be submissive and obedient to their husbands.

“My parents never preached one time that it was you do all these things and the God will accept you, but that’s how I took it personally,” Joy-Anna said during the podcast conversation. “We grew up with so many standards and I was great at keeping all of these standards and so my whole life, I was like doing all these things and my whole Christianity was always a checklist.”

Joy-Anna said her sister’s memoir was a turning point for her, prompting her to seek outside counseling and support. “And so, I feel like Jinger’s book, I listened to it and I’ve talked to her a lot and I had a lot of really good counselors in my life and I went and actually saw a counselor for these issues and that was really good,” the former 19 Kids and Counting star explained. “And just working through and he really encouraged me. He kept saying, don’t just ask all these questions and not search for answers.”

Jill Duggar, another of Joy-Anna’s older sisters, also explored her religious upbringing in her book Counting the Cost, which was published months later after Jinger’s book in September 2023. In the memoir, Jill, 33, discussed at length some of the mental and physical abuse she experienced as a member of the IBLP. In addition, she also detailed what led to the end of their family’s relationship with TLC in 2017 and how she felt “taken advantage of” by Jim Bob, 59.

During her appearance on the “Unplanned” podcast, Joy-Anna explained that Michelle, 58, and Jim Bob had a hard time accepting that Jill and Jinger wrote about their experiences in the IBLP in the weeks and months following the books’ respective releases. At the same time, she had a difficult postpartum experience after welcoming her son Gunner with her husband, Austin Forsyth, in May 2023.

“It was, like, the darkest time of my life,” she said, adding that it was both “super good” and “super hard.” She acknowledged that the “hormones were incredibly challenging” for her and admitted feeling like her “family was falling apart.”

“My siblings and my parents and all this stuff was super hard at that time,” the mother of three detailed.

Jim Bob and Michelle have stayed mostly quiet regarding their daughters documenting their spiritual journeys publicly. However, they did break their silence on Jill’s book three days before its release.

“We love all of our children very much. As with any family, few things are more painful than conflicts or problems among those you love,” the couple — who married in 1984 — said in a statement to People. “We do not believe the best way to resolve conflicts, facilitate forgiveness and reconciliation, or to communicate through difficulties is through the media or in a public forum so we will not comment.”