Two of Josh Duggar’s victims are speaking out and downplaying his actions.
In an interview with Fox News’ Megyn Kelly airing Friday, Jessa Seewald and Jill Dillard, two of Josh’s younger sisters, acknowledged they were “victims” of his inappropriate touching 12 years ago, but defended their brother against harsher accusations.
“Josh was a boy, a young boy in puberty, and a little too curious about girls,” Jessa said in an excerpt released in advance of the broadcast. “And that got him into some trouble. And he made some bad choices, but, really, the extent of it was mild — inappropriate touching on fully clothed victims, most of it while [the] girls were sleeping.”
The interview with the sisters took place on the same day as Kelly sat down with their parents, Jim Bob and Michelle Duggar.
In Wednesday’s airing of the interview, Jim Bob and Michelle Duggar, the embattled stars of TLC’s reality show “19 Kids and Counting,” also defended Josh against harsh labels like “pedophile,” as well as their own actions in the wake of his confessions that he had inappropriately touched five young girls, including sisters Jessa and Jill, while they were sleeping.
“There were a couple of times he came and told us what he had done,” Jim Bob Duggar told Kelly of how they found out about Josh’s actions. “Again, this was not rape or anything like that, it was touching someone over the clothes. There were a couple of times he touched someone under the clothes for a few seconds. Each time he came and told us, crying. It was the third time that we decided we needed help.”
The sisters also dispelled speculation that they were forced to make an appearance on “The Kelly File” in order to defend Josh.
“This is something we chose to do, nobody asked us to do this,” Jessa said.
Kelly’s full interview with Jill and Jessa will air on Fox News at 9 p.m. ET on Fox News.