The Duggars: TWISTED FAMILY SECRETS

THE SEEMINGLY WHOLESOME MEGA FAMILY EMBRACED A CULTURE OF ABUSE. FINALLY, TWO SURVIVORS ARE BREAKING THEIR SILENCE.

BACK before the Arkansasbased Duggar family became America’s favorite modestly dressed, side-hugging supersized family on 19 Kids and Counting, they were already big players in the ultra-fundamentalist Institute in Basic Life Principles (IBLP), founded by Bill Gothard. Among the organizations many precepts: no “worldly” television. At the time, cousin Amy King recalled questioning family patriarch Jim Bob Duggar about crossing that line. His answer? “Well, it’s a ministry.”

Far from being charming oddities with a gaggle of wholesome kids, Jim Bob and his wife, Michelle Duggar, were actually on a mission to spread Gothard’s cult-like teachings to influence everything from politics to women’s rights. Jim Bob even ran for office. Now as “rogue” daughters Jill Duggar Dillard and Jinger Duggar Vuolo have gone public about their abusive upbringing, Jim Bob is “livid,” says an insider. “He can’t believe his daughters have turned against him.”

PANDEMIC OF ABUSE