Joy-Anna and Jinger Duggar Open Up About Overcoming ‘Dark Moments’ Amid Family Scandals: ‘Sickening’

Counting On alums Joy-Anna Duggar and Jinger Duggar are finally seeing the light at the end of the tunnel six months after the family’s latest scandal in which their brother, Joseph Duggar, and sister-in-law, Kendra Duggar, were arrested.

During a September 2 episode of the Call Your Sister podcast, Joy-Anna, 29, said she’s “coming out” of the darkness.

“We’ve had wave after wave of just sickening horrible things happening,” Joy-Anna said during the September 2 episode. “It really just sends me into a spiral. And those have been really hard seasons. I feel like I’m coming out of that finally with this last run we went through of family stuff.”

She added, “Sin is so dark and so heavy and it’s hard to find true joy…happiness is circumstantial. I think my kids help me have a little bit of happiness here and there in the dark moments. But it is really hard to find joy in those hard, hard moments.”

Jinger, 32, agreed, calling the family scandals “so sudden” and “so painful.”

“You don’t even know how to cope with it. There have been so many seasons and trials that I did not expect,” she said, “especially when it’s related to people that you love.”

As Star previously reported, Joseph was arrested in March and charged with lewd and lascivious behavior with a minor following an alleged incident that took place during a family vacation to Florida in 2020. He has pleaded not guilty and will next appear in court on September 15.

“What has come out about my brother is heartbreaking and deeply disturbing,” Joy-Anna shared via her Instagram Story at the time, per People. “My heart is with the victim, and I am grieved by the pain and harm caused.”

Joseph and Kendra were also arrested in March on a separate child endangerment case related to their kids, Garrett David, 8, Addison Renee, 6, Brooklyn Praise, 5, and Justus, 4. They recently withdrew their not guilty pleas, per the Los Angeles Times, and under a court-approved agreement, those charges can be dropped in a year if they follow court orders and maintain good behavior.

In addition to Joseph’s scandal, the sisters’ eldest brother, Josh Duggar, is currently serving a 12.5 year prison sentence after being found guilty of receiving and possessing child sexual abuse material. He is currently scheduled to be released on February 2, 2033.