What is Josh Duggar's net worth?
Josh Duggar is an American businessman and reality television personality who has a net worth of $5,000. Josh Duggar, also known as Joshua James Duggar, is the eldest child in the Dugger family. Josh Duggar is also known for being convicted on charges of possession of child pornography.
Early Life
Joshua James Duggar was born on March 3, 1988. He was raised in Arkansas. He is the eldest of 19 children. He was home-schooled and finished high school at age 16, there are also records of him attaining some post-secondary schooling with CollegePlus! and Thomas Edison State College.
Reality Television Fame
At the age of 17, Duggar began appearing on a number of reality shows that depicted his family, beginning with a program on Discovery Health in 2005. Most notably, he began appearing on the TLC series "19 Kids and Counting" in September of 2008. The show followed the life of the growing Duggar family. One of the early episodes in 2009 prominently featured Josh's wedding day, specifically highlighting that he had waited until marriage to kiss his bride. Other episodes featured Josh and his family, especially when he and his wife Anna began having children.
Outside of his time on television, Duggar became interested and involved in politics. He worked as a part-time political consultant in 2007, and in 2008, he worked on the Republican presidential primary campaign of former Arkansas Governor Mike Huckabee. From June 2013 until May 2015, he was the executive director of FRC Action, a political action and lobbying organization sponsored by the Family Research Council. He campaigned for Senate candidates in Kansas, Mississippi, and Virginia during the time leading up to the 2014 midterm elections. He generally advocated for what he called "family-centered" conservative values, which included opposing abortion, divorce, and gay marriage. He was labeled an anti-gay activist by GLADD, a pro-LGBT rights organization.
Arrest and Conviction
Duggar had been accused of sexual misconduct towards minors as early as 2006. The Duggar family was set to appear on "The Oprah Winfrey Show" when show producers received an anonymous email that revealed Duggar's history of sexual misconduct. Winfrey's producers alerted the Department of Human Services, which resulted in an investigation by the Springdale police. Investigators spoke to Duggar's family and discovered there had been incidents of sexual misconduct in 2002 and 2003, but no report had been made, and the statute of limitations on these charges had run out. The Duggar parents had reportedly dealt with the issues at home by sending Josh to various work sites where he had performed manual labor and by making him talk to church elders.
The 2002 and 2003 incidents remained largely unknown to the public until the magazine "In Touch Weekly" released a story that provided details about the police reports related to the incidents. When the article was published, Duggar resigned from his position at FRC Action. The story detailed how Duggar had confessed to his father on three separate occasions to committing child molestation, which had involved a much younger sister. It noted that the family had waited nearly a year and a half before reporting this abuse to authorities. "19 Kids and Counting" was ultimately canceled due to the controversy.
Around the same time the story broke, the Ashley Madison data breach also occurred. This breach revealed that Duggar had paid for two Ashley Madison subscriptions. Duggar released a statement in which he admitted to watching pornography and being unfaithful to his wife, actions which he deemed to be hypocritical in his apology.
Controversy surrounding the Duggar family was quiet for a few years until Duggar was arrested on federal charges of receiving and possessing child pornography in April of 2021. Because some of his children at the time were minors, Duggar was granted conditional bail before his trial but was permitted to have contact with his children only in the presence of his wife.
Duggar's trial began in November of 2021. The trial revealed that Duggar had partitioned the hard drive on his computer into two sections: one on which Windows was installed, which he used for work, and one on which Linux was installed, which he used to download and share child pornography. In December 2021, Duggar was found guilty of receiving and possessing child pornography and subsequently sentenced to 12 and a half years in prison. Following his release, he will need to complete 20 years of supervised release, during which time he must register as a sex offender and can have no unsupervised contact with minors.
Photo via by Washington County Sheriff's Office
Other Work
Josh Duggar owns a consulting firm for politicians and an automotive dealership and is currently the Executive Director of the Family Research Center's Action Arm. The Family Research Center is an outspoken organization that carries a pro-life, pro-family agenda and speaks out quite adamantly regarding its beliefs on gay and lesbian relationships.
Personal Life
Josh married Anna Keller on September 26, 2008, at the Grove Baptist Church in Hillard, Florida. Both Duggar and Keller were 20 years old at the time of their marriage.
They had their first child together in October 2009. They subsequently had six more children between 2011 and 2021 for a total of seven children: four daughters and three sons. By the time Duggar is expected to be released from prison, his four youngest children will still be minors. Given the conditions of his arrest, any future time spent with his minor children would need to be supervised.
