''19 Kids and Counting'' (formerly ''17 Kids and Counting'' and ''18 Kids and Counting'') is an American
reality television
Reality television is a genre of television programming that documents purportedly unscripted real-life situations, often starring ordinary people rather than professional actors. Reality television emerged as a distinct genre in the early 1990s ...
series that aired on the cable channel
TLC
TLC may refer to:
Arts and entertainment Television
* ''TLC'' (TV series), a 2002 British situational comedy television series that aired on BBC2
* TLC (TV network), formerly the Learning Channel, an American cable TV network
** TLC (Asia), an A ...
for seven years until its cancellation in 2015. The show features the Duggar family: parents Michelle and
Jim Bob Duggar and their 19 children – nine daughters and ten sons – all of whose names begin with the letter "J". During the duration of the show, two children were born, three children were married, and four grandchildren were born.
The show focuses on the life of the Duggar family, who are devout
independent Baptists, and frequently discusses values of purity, modesty and faith in God. The Duggars avoid birth control, saying they have decided to allow God to determine the number of children they have. All of the children are homeschooled and access to entertainment such as movies and television is limited. They practice chaperoned courtship, in which a couple becomes acquainted only in a group setting.
The values presented on the show have been associated with the
Quiverfull movement, which has been described as promoting strict family conformity, male hierarchies and subservient roles for women.
The Duggars have stated that they are not associated with the Quiverfull movement.
However, in an article formerly published on their website titled "Why Have Such a Large Family?", the Duggars reference Psalms 127:3-5, from which the Quiverfull movement name comes. Moreover, in 2001, Jim Bob and Michelle were interviewed for an article published on a Quiverfull affiliated website. The Duggar family has also been connected with the
Institute in Basic Life Principles and the Advanced Training Institute, both of which were founded by
Bill Gothard.
The series began on September 29, 2008, and concluded on May 19, 2015. The show was TLC's most popular, averaging 2.3 million viewers per new episode in Season 10 and scoring in the
Nielsen "Cable Top 25".
On May 22, 2015, TLC suspended the series when the Duggars' eldest son
Josh publicly apologized for having "acted inexcusably" following reports that he
molested five girls, including some of his sisters, by fondling them. These events occurred in 2002 and 2003, when Josh was 14 to 15 years old and prior to the beginning of the show. On July 16, 2015, TLC announced that the show was officially canceled and would not resume production.
A spin off show, ''
Counting On'', aired in December 2015 and was cancelled in 2021, due to Josh Duggar's arrest for child pornography.
Background
The Duggars live in
Tontitown, Arkansas
Tontitown is a city in northern Washington County, Arkansas, United States. The community is located in the Ozarks, Ozark Mountains and was founded by Italian American, Italian settlers in 1898. Known for its grapes and wines, Tontitown has hosted ...
, near
Springdale and originally appeared in several
TLC
TLC may refer to:
Arts and entertainment Television
* ''TLC'' (TV series), a 2002 British situational comedy television series that aired on BBC2
* TLC (TV network), formerly the Learning Channel, an American cable TV network
** TLC (Asia), an A ...
and
Discovery Health one hour specials, mostly focused on four of Michelle's last five deliveries.
Jim Bob Duggar has an older sister, Deanna, who occasionally appears on the show. Michelle Duggar (née Ruark) has six older siblings (Pamela Ethel, Kathie Ann, Evelyn Alice, Carolyn Jeannite, Freda Louise and Garrett Floyd Jr.). The couple met in the early 1980s when Duggar and a fellow church member were sent for a follow-up visit after Michelle experienced a
religious conversion
Religious conversion is the adoption of a set of beliefs identified with one particular religious denomination to the exclusion of others. Thus "religious conversion" would describe the abandoning of adherence to one denomination and affiliatin ...
. The Duggars were married on July 21, 1984, just after Michelle's high school graduation. When they married, she was 17 and he was 19; neither attended college. Together they first launched a used-car business, then towing and real estate businesses; both are licensed
real estate agents.
The Duggars initially chose to wait before having children and used birth control pills in the early years of their marriage. Their eldest child, Joshua
Joshua ( ), also known as Yehoshua ( ''Yəhōšuaʿ'', Tiberian Hebrew, Tiberian: ''Yŏhōšuaʿ,'' Literal translation, lit. 'Yahweh is salvation'), Jehoshua, or Josue, functioned as Moses' assistant in the books of Book of Exodus, Exodus and ...
, was born in 1988. They resumed using oral contraceptives after his birth, but conceived again, despite this precaution; however, Michelle miscarried early in her pregnancy. She has mentioned that they named this child Caleb, despite not knowing the baby's sex. After consulting a doctor, the Duggars were told that birth control can (in some cases) allow conception, but cause miscarriage. As a result, they decided to stop using birth control and allow God to determine the number of children they would have. Michelle soon became pregnant again, this time with her first set of twins, Jana and John-David. Michelle gave birth 17 times, over a period of years, approximately one birth every 15 months.
The high number of children is partly related to their Fundamental Baptist beliefs that prohibit contraception
Birth control, also known as contraception, anticonception, and fertility control, is the use of methods or devices to prevent pregnancy. Birth control has been used since ancient times, but effective and safe methods of birth control only be ...
. They only watch programs they consider to be wholesome family television and various historical events. Their Internet service is filtered. They adhere to certain standards of modesty in clothing, in accordance with their religious beliefs. Shorts and tank tops are prohibited, and the women do not wear skirts that go above the knee. According to Michelle Duggar, such standards are mandated by scripture
Religious texts, including scripture, are texts which various religions consider to be of central importance to their religious tradition. They often feature a compilation or discussion of beliefs, ritual practices, moral commandments and ...
. They believe that baring one's thigh is "nakedness and shame" and runs the risk of "defrauding" others – or stirring up and arousing "desires in someone else that cannot be righteously fulfilled". They avoid beaches and public swimming areas "because it's just too hard for the guys to try to keep their eyes averted in those situations". Female family members keep their hair long, and males are clean-shaven and short-haired. They practice chaperoned courtship, where the couple get to know one another in a group setting. The Duggars describe this as "dating with a purpose". The Duggar children cannot begin a courtship without parental permission. Before a courtship officially begins, an interested man must speak to the woman's father.
Jim Bob Duggar served as a Republican member of the Arkansas House of Representatives
The Arkansas House of Representatives is the lower house of the Arkansas General Assembly, the state legislature of the US state of Arkansas. The House has 100 members elected from an equal number of constituencies across the state. Each distr ...
from 1999 to 2002. He was defeated for the Republican nomination for the U.S. Senate by incumbent Tim Hutchinson in 2002 by a vote of 71,576 to 20,546. He later became a real estate agent
Real estate agents and real estate brokers are people who represent sellers or buyers of real estate or real property. While a broker may work independently, an agent usually works under a licensed broker to represent clients. Brokers and age ...
and investor. The Duggars' income is derived from rental proceeds of commercial properties they own. Prior to the scandal surrounding son Josh, they lived debt-free.
Construction of their 7000-square-foot house began in 2000, when they bought the lot and ordered two steel frames. One of the frames was not drilled correctly, so the Duggars received a third frame, which was used to build the girls' room and the industrial kitchen. Discovery Networks completed the build, finding local Arkansas construction workers to donate their skills and time. The home was completed on January 20, 2006. Some of the painting, decorating, furnishings, appliances, and other finishing touches (such as a stocked pantry) were provided by Discovery Networks and corporate sponsors, as part of the one-hour television special entitled ''16 Children and Moving In''.
But there were longstanding questions about the way "''19 Kids and Counting''" (...) were able to skirt child labor laws because they were classified as documentaries. A 2010 investigation by The Times revealed that producers of "''19 Kids and Counting''" and other reality TV programs had not obtained work permits to employ minors under 16. Patriarch Jim Bob Duggar said at the time the family didn't consider the filming to be work. (...) And the questions go beyond labor law. As children, the Duggars' offspring were conscripted into a reality show that stripped them of their privacy and anonymity, all in service of their parents' extreme religious beliefs.[News Analysis: The Duggars built a wholesome reality TV empire on TLC. Now it's in ruins](_blank)
''Los Angeles Times
The ''Los Angeles Times'' is an American Newspaper#Daily, daily newspaper that began publishing in Los Angeles, California, in 1881. Based in the Greater Los Angeles city of El Segundo, California, El Segundo since 2018, it is the List of new ...
''
Series overview
Events during the series
Michelle Duggar gave birth via emergency C-section to the couple's 19th child, Josie Brooklyn Duggar, on December 10, 2009, six months into her pregnancy. When she was rushed to the hospital for gallstones, doctors discovered that she was pre-eclamptic and performed an emergency delivery. Josie was premature at only 1 lb, 6 oz at birth. Nearly four months later on April 6, 2010, the Duggars were able to take the baby to their temporary rental home in Little Rock while they awaited medical approval to take her home to Tontitown.
The Duggars took Josie home to Tontitown for good on June 23, 2010. By that December she weighed 15 lbs 12 oz.
On December 2, 2008, Jim Bob and Michelle Duggar's book ''The Duggars: 20 and Counting!'' was released. Their second book, ''A Love That Multiplies'', was released on June 7, 2011. The eldest four girls – Jana, Jill, Jessa and Jinger – authored ''Growing Up Duggar: It's All About Relationships'', which was released on March 4, 2014.
On November 8, 2011, Michelle Duggar and the family appeared on NBC
The National Broadcasting Company (NBC) is an American commercial broadcast television and radio network serving as the flagship property of the NBC Entertainment division of NBCUniversal, a subsidiary of Comcast. It is one of NBCUniversal's ...
's '' Today Show'' to announce she was expecting their 20th child. On December 8, 2011, the Duggars announced that Michelle had miscarried 20 weeks into her pregnancy. Six days later, they held a memorial service for the stillborn baby girl that they named Jubilee Shalom (meaning celebration and peace).
A few months after the birth of their daughter Mackynzie, Josh and Anna Duggar learned that she was pregnant with their second child, but the pregnancy ended in a miscarriage. On their daughter's first birthday, Josh and Anna Duggar announced they were expecting again. The couple welcomed their second child, Michael James, on June 15, 2011. They learned that they were expecting again in September 2012.
Josh Duggar was offered a job at the Family Research Council during his wife's pregnancy with their third child. Marcus Anthony was delivered by a midwife on June 2, 2013. Duggar announced that he was hired to be the executive director of the Family Research Council's political action committee
In the United States, a political action committee (PAC) is a tax-exempt 527 organization that pools campaign contributions from members and donates those funds to campaigns for or against candidates, ballot initiatives, or legislation. The l ...
, FRC Action, on June 18, 2013, and that the family would move to Washington, D.C.
Washington, D.C., formally the District of Columbia and commonly known as Washington or D.C., is the capital city and federal district of the United States. The city is on the Potomac River, across from Virginia, and shares land borders with ...
On December 2, 2014, Josh and Anna Duggar announced they were expecting their fourth child.
The Duggars issued an announcement that Jessa Duggar was in a courtship with Ben Seewald on September 18, 2013. The couple met through their church. On August 15, 2014, after eleven months of courtship, the couple announced their engagement and were married on November 1, 2014.
Jill Duggar's courtship with Derick Dillard was announced on March 31, 2014. They were introduced by Jim Bob Duggar and became further acquainted via supervised Skype
Skype () was a proprietary telecommunications application operated by Skype Technologies, a division of Microsoft, best known for IP-based videotelephony, videoconferencing and voice calls. It also had instant messaging, file transfer, ...
and text conversations while Dillard was serving as a missionary in Nepal
Nepal, officially the Federal Democratic Republic of Nepal, is a landlocked country in South Asia. It is mainly situated in the Himalayas, but also includes parts of the Indo-Gangetic Plain. It borders the Tibet Autonomous Region of China Ch ...
. Jill Duggar and her father traveled to Nepal to meet Dillard in person and began a formal courtship in November 2013. The couple announced their engagement on April 9, 2014, and were married on June 21, 2014.
The Dillards announced their first pregnancy on August 20, 2014. Their son, Israel David Dillard, was born on April 6, 2015.
The Seewalds announced their first pregnancy on April 21, 2015, having waited until the second trimester.
On July 16, 2015, TLC announced that the series was officially canceled.
Reception
Arnold Hamilton of ''The Dallas Morning News
''The Dallas Morning News'' is a daily newspaper serving the Dallas–Fort Worth area of Texas, with an average print circulation in 2022 of 65,369. It was founded on October 1, 1885, by Alfred Horatio Belo as a satellite publication of the ' ...
'' described ''19 Kids and Counting'' as "part ''Little House on the Prairie
The ''Little House on the Prairie'' books comprise a series of American children's novels written by Laura Ingalls Wilder (b. Laura Elizabeth Ingalls). The stories are based on her childhood and adulthood in the Midwestern United States, Americ ...
,'' part '' Yours, Mine & Ours''–except the only blending in this real-life family occurs with restaurant like precision at mealtimes". He described the Duggars as acting "against the trend", considering the 2002 US Census found that only 0.3 percent of women aged 15 to 44 have given birth to seven or more children and that this number has declined steadily since 1976.
In an op-ed for ''The New York Observer
''The New York Observer'' was a weekly newspaper established in 1987. In 2016, it ceased print publication and became the online-only newspaper ''Observer''. The media site focuses on culture, real estate, media, politics and the entertainment ...
'', Nina Burleigh described the Duggars as "good TV. Good, sugarcoated rat poison, politically speaking", referring to the Duggars' political activity such as their opposition to abortion and their lobbying efforts against legislation that would allow transgender people to use public restrooms matching their gender identity.
In an article published in the '' Journal of Religion and Popular Culture'', Christy Mesaros-Winckles described the Duggars as "unofficial spokespeople for the Quiverfull movement". Referring to the first season of the show, Mesaros-Winckles said that the Duggars introduced themselves and their religious beliefs with the "subtle and disturbing" message of conformity and "rigid male hierarchy" associated with the Quiverfull movement. Mesaros-Winckles asserted that the show provides a platform for the legitimization of this movement, while downplaying "patriarchal gender roles and strict family conformity". Mesaros-Winckles also said that the Duggars "try to convince the audience that their way of life is best for raising healthy, godly children" and that a large family is a "biblical mandate". She concluded that, despite the small size of the Quiverfull movement, with perhaps only several thousand followers, the show ''19 Kids and Counting'' has brought the movement to the forefront of American culture.
Feminist Amanda Marcotte referred to the Duggars as part of the " Christian patriarchy movement", which she described as interchangeable with the Quiverfull movement, saying that the Duggars promote sexist values which run counter to mainstream American culture.
The Duggars have said they are not part of the Quiverfull movement, stating, "We are simply Bible-believing Christians who desire to follow God's Word and apply it to our lives."
Criticism
The Duggar family has received criticism due to their stance on LGBT
LGBTQ people are individuals who are lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, or questioning. Many variants of the initialism are used; LGBTQIA+ people incorporates intersex, asexual, aromantic, agender, and other individuals. The gro ...
issues. In August 2014, Michelle Duggar recorded a political robocall regarding legislation affecting transgender
A transgender (often shortened to trans) person has a gender identity different from that typically associated with the sex they were sex assignment, assigned at birth.
The opposite of ''transgender'' is ''cisgender'', which describes perso ...
individuals, which ''The Huffington Post
''HuffPost'' (''The Huffington Post'' until 2017, itself often abbreviated as ''HPo'') is an American progressive news website, with localized and international editions. The site offers news, satire, blogs, and original content, and covers p ...
'' described as "transphobic" and ''The Washington Post
''The Washington Post'', locally known as ''The'' ''Post'' and, informally, ''WaPo'' or ''WP'', is an American daily newspaper published in Washington, D.C., the national capital. It is the most widely circulated newspaper in the Washington m ...
'' described as "anti- anti-discrimination". The robocall includes Michelle saying, "The Fayetteville City Council
A municipal council is the legislative body of a municipality or local government area. Depending on the location and classification of the municipality it may be known as a city council, town council, town board, community council, borough counc ...
is voting on an ordinance this Tuesday night that would allow men – yes, I said men – to use women's and girls' restrooms, locker rooms, showers, sleeping areas and other areas that are designated for females only. I don't believe the citizens of Fayetteville would want males with past child predator convictions that claim they are female to have a legal right to enter private areas that are reserved for women and girls." In response to this robocall, a petition was started on Change.org calling for TLC to cancel the show ''19 Kids and Counting'', which received over 100,000 signatures. In response to the first petition, a second petition was started asking TLC to keep the show on the air, which also received over 100,000 signatures.
In November 2014, the Duggars asked married couples to take a picture while kissing and share it on their Facebook
Facebook is a social media and social networking service owned by the American technology conglomerate Meta Platforms, Meta. Created in 2004 by Mark Zuckerberg with four other Harvard College students and roommates, Eduardo Saverin, Andre ...
page. Several users noted that pictures of same-sex couples were deleted from the Duggars' Facebook page. While working for the Family Research Council, the Duggars' eldest son Josh Duggar said, "I truly believe every child deserves a mother and a father"; the Family Research Council has been labeled as an anti-gay hate group by the Southern Poverty Law Center
The Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC) is an American 501(c)(3) nonprofit legal advocacy organization specializing in civil rights and public interest litigation. Based in Montgomery, Alabama, it is known for its legal cases against white ...
, with SPLC saying they were designated as such due to their publication of "anti-gay propaganda". Josh Duggar has been described as an "anti-gay activist" by GLAAD
GLAAD () is an American non-governmental media monitoring organization. Originally founded as a protest against defamatory coverage of gay and lesbian demographics and their portrayals in the media and entertainment industries, it has since ...
.
“19 Kids and Counting” also regularly documented the Duggars at events organized by the group in ways that omitted key information: For instance, episodes featuring commencement ceremonies from Alert Academy, an IBLP-led quasi-boot camp, never mention that the program denounces homosexuality and endorses the use of “loving corporal correction” on children. (...) The Duggars are associated with the Biblical patriarchy movement, which holds that men are ordained by God to be the leaders of their households and strongly discourages birth control. (...) “19 Kids” and “Counting On” made it seem like “it’s quirky and zany to run a household with that many children,” says Kathryn Joyce, author of “Quiverfull: Inside the Christian Patriarchy Movement,” when in reality older girls are often forced to serve as co-parents to the detriment of things like their education. Once the Duggar girls reached adulthood, there were few options available to them other than marriage, kids and reality TV
Reality television is a genre of television programming that documents purportedly unscripted real-life situations, often starring ordinary people rather than professional actors. Reality television emerged as a distinct genre in the early 199 ...
.
In January 2023, Jinger Duggar Vuolo, the sixth child of Jim Bob and Michelle Duggar who appeared on both "19 Kids and Counting" and its spinoff "Counting On", would criticize her family's "cult-like" religious beliefs, telling People Magazine
''People'' is an American weekly magazine that specializes in celebrity news and human-interest stories. It is published by Dotdash Meredith, a subsidiary of IAC (company), IAC. With a readership of 46.6 million adults in 2009, ''Peopl ...
things like "Fear was a huge part of my childhood," "I thought I had to wear only skirts and dresses to please God. Music with drums, places I went or the wrong friendships could all bring harm" and that "the teaching I grew up under was harmful, it was damaging, and there are lasting effects. Vuolo also provided more criticism of the Duggar family in her book ''Becoming Free Indeed: My Story of Disentangling Faith From Fear''.
Josh Duggar molestation controversy
On May 21, 2015, a police report from 2006 was revealed to the public by '' In Touch Weekly'' magazine, stating sexual molestation allegations against the Duggars' eldest son, Josh Duggar. The report states that, in 2002–2003, Josh – then 14 to 15 years old – fondled five girls, including four of his sisters, by touching their breasts and genital regions on multiple occasions while they were asleep and on a few occasions while they were awake. These events occurred prior to the beginning of the TLC series. The case was never fully investigated, and the statute of limitations
A statute of limitations, known in civil law systems as a prescriptive period, is a law passed by a legislative body to set the maximum time after an event within which legal proceedings may be initiated. ("Time for commencing proceedings") In ...
had by then expired. On May 22, 2015, TLC removed all reruns of the show that were previously set to air from its current airing schedule, with the statement, "We are deeply saddened and troubled by this heartbreaking situation and our thoughts and prayers are with the family and victims at this difficult time."
In the wake of the controversy, more than twenty advertisers, including General Mills
General Mills, Inc. is an American multinational corporation, multinational manufacturer and marketer of branded ultra-processed consumer foods sold through retail stores. Founded on the banks of the Mississippi River at Saint Anthony Falls in ...
, Walgreens
Walgreens is an American pharmacy store chain. It is the second largest in the United States, behind CVS Pharmacy. As of March 2025, the company operated more than 8,700 stores in the U.S.
Walgreens has been the subject of a number of lawsuit ...
, Payless ShoeSource, Choice Hotels, Pizza Hut, Sweet Leaf Tea and Crayola
Crayola LLC, formerly the Binney & Smith Company, is an American manufacturing and retail company specializing in list of art media, art supplies. It is known for its brand ''Crayola'' and best known for its crayons. The company is headquartered ...
, announced that they were pulling their ads from the show;
Hulu
Hulu (, ) is an American Subscription business model, subscription streaming media service owned by Disney Streaming, a subsidiary of the Disney Entertainment segment of the Walt Disney Company. It was launched on October 29, 2007, initially as ...
also removed the show's entire back catalog of episodes from its streaming service. Public reaction to the revelation led to several petitions calling for TLC to cancel the series on Change.org, citing conflict between the reported events and the show's promotion of family values
Family values, sometimes referred to as familial values, are traditional or cultural values that pertain to the family's structure, function, roles, beliefs, attitudes, and ideals. Additionally, the concept of family values may be understood ...
.
Josh, along with his wife and his parents, responded to the revelations. Josh apologized, stating he had "acted inexcusably" and resigned from his position at the Family Research Council. Anna stated that she knew about Josh's actions two years before she married him and believed that the counseling he received after the incidents "changed his life". The Duggars described this time as a dark period in their lives and said it caused their family "to seek God like never before". They were featured in an interview with Megyn Kelly
Megyn Marie Kelly (; born November 18, 1970) is an American journalist, attorney, political commentator, and media personality. She currently hosts ''The Megyn Kelly Show'', a talk show and podcast that airs daily on Sirius XM's Triumph channe ...
on Fox News Channel
The Fox News Channel (FNC), commonly known as Fox News, is an American multinational conservative news and political commentary television channel and website based in New York City, U.S. It is owned by Fox News Media, which itself is ow ...
's ''The Kelly File
''The Kelly File'' is an American news television program hosted by journalist and former attorney Megyn Kelly on the Fox News Channel. The program was a spinoff of '' The O'Reilly Factor'', and focused on late-breaking stories in a live form ...
'' on June 3, 2015, where they answered questions regarding the scandal.
On April 29, 2021, six years after the show's cancellation, Josh was arrested
An arrest is the act of apprehending and taking a person into custody (legal protection or control), usually because the person has been suspected of or observed committing a crime. After being taken into custody, the person can be Interroga ...
for possession of child pornography and later convicted.
Cancellation
On July 16, 2015, Discovery Communications
Discovery, Inc. was an American multinational mass media factual television conglomerate based in New York City. Established in 1982, the company operated a group of factual and lifestyle television brands, such as the namesake Discovery Cha ...
, parent company of TLC, confirmed to CNN
Cable News Network (CNN) is a multinational news organization operating, most notably, a website and a TV channel headquartered in Atlanta. Founded in 1980 by American media proprietor Ted Turner and Reese Schonfeld as a 24-hour cable ne ...
that the show was officially canceled and that all further production would be ceased. In the wake of the allegations, the network announced that it would produce a one-hour, commercial-free documentary special on child abuse, which would include Jill and Jessa Duggar.[
TLC had paid the Duggar family an estimated $25,000–$45,000 per episode. One branding expert estimated that the loss of endorsements, speaking engagements and book deals based on the show could cost the Duggars an estimated $25 million a year.
A three-part spin-off series, ''Jill and Jessa: Counting On'', focusing on newlyweds Jill and Derick Dillard, Jessa and Ben Seewald, Anna Duggar and several of the other adult Duggar children (sans Josh) aired in December 2015. Its first episode attracted more than 2.2 million viewers, according to a report by The Nielsen Company. The third episode garnered the highest ratings and viewership, at 2.5 million viewers, and ranked in the Top 5 cable shows for the night. In March 2016, it was announced that '' Counting On'' had been picked up for a full season, which premiered on March 15, 2016.]
Cast
The Duggar family includes parents James Robert "Jim Bob" Duggar and Michelle Duggar (née Ruark), and children Josh, Jana, John, Jill, Jessa, Jinger, Joe, Josiah, Joy, Jedidiah, Jeremiah, Jason, James, Justin, Jackson, Johannah, Jennifer, Jordyn, and Josie.
Availability
DVDs
References
External links
* for the TV show