Let’s just get this out of the way right now – Michelle Duggar is not pregnant, but she did take a pregnancy test on the opening episode this season of 19 Kids & Counting, her reality show on TLC. I guess that means she’s still actively trying to get pregnant, or at least not taking any precautions against pregnancy. Michelle went through a medical crisis last year and nearly died when she went into premature labor with her 19th child. Despite their setbacks and the size of their family, Michelle and her husband Jim-Bob have made it clear that they will have as many children as “God” wants them to have, as if he didn’t give them free will. They plan to grow their child army as large as they possibly can with little regard to Michelle’s health or the health of her babies. On 19 Kids & Counting, Michelle wants to go sky diving with her 18 year old daughter, but takes a pregnancy test first to make sure that she’s not endangering a potential fetus with her reckless behavior. I don’t know where to start with that one:
The season premiere of TLC’s 19 Kids and Counting is this Monday, and would you believe, mom-to-19 Michelle Duggar is talking pregnancy in the very first episode of the new season! See, Jessa Duggar is turning 18, and to celebrate her birthday, she’s going skydiving with her mom, but only if Michelle can confirm she is currently not pregnant.
We just chatted exclusively with Michelle and Jim Bob Duggar about the results of that pregnancy test, the skydiving adventure featured in the exclusive season-premiere sneak peek featured above, plus what Duggar family adventures are coming for season five and which of the Duggar kids are about to go to college!
Just so we’re clear, Michelle was not pregnant, so her skydiving date with Jessa was a go! As Michelle recounts the events of the season premiere, “Every since she was little, there was nothing challenging that Jessa would not do, but when everybody was jumping out of the airplane the first time that everybody got to experience it two years previous, Jessa wasn’t old enough to jump. So when she turned 18, I said, ‘Jessa what would you like to do for your birthday?’ and she said, ‘I want to jump out of a plane,’ and I said, ‘Really, that is so neat, because I really wanted to do it too, and I was pregnant at the time, so as long as I’m not pregnant now, I will do it with you!’ “
[From E! Online]
The E! article has more from Jim-Bob and Michelle about how their kids are doing, and what their career aspirations are. One of their daughters is training to be a doula, and two of their sons are EMTs. They say that a few of their kids may get a college level education through a Christian home schooling program called College Plus! Supposedly they offer accredited degrees from home.
The Duggars also live debt free and say “We try to cut corners, and we live debt free.. We do spend about $3,000 a month on food, so that’s a big expense, and as they’re getting older, there’s more expenses for educational opportunities, but we have seen God provide every step of the way for our family.” I’m sure TLC provides a lot of that too. The Duggars do pay personal income taxes from what I can find, but they’ve been able to declare their home a “church” and do not pay property taxes or taxes on any home goods. It saves them some money but it’s not like they’re not paying taxes. It’s not like the public is supporting their huge family, unless you count the fact that we’ve helped make them famous.
Oh Michelle…
I’ve no doubt that they are exceptionally good people but I think at 19 kids even the Pope would say put a cork in it.
oh gosh! we get it already!!!!! you want to be able to have as many children that God permits! But why, and I am trying to be nice, why do you constantly need to excite everyone about another possible pregnancy?!
There should be some time devoted to Josie. Not creating another child.
I’m not sure that these people aren’t like Octomom in some ways. Baby addicts. They like Michelle being pregnant and having them, but then pass them off to an older sibling to raise.
Baby hoarders.
I have a lot of doubts that they’re “exceptionally good people”.
“They like Michelle being pregnant and having them, but then pass them off to an older sibling to raise”
Dorothy I agree with your statement 100%.. I only watched the first season of their show very early on I got that exact impression.
Having children is a blessing. But I wish they would stop creating more then they can care for. Lets face it their older daughters are shouldering the burden of the younger children and to me that is not right.
I think that the time for them to stop being selfish has been reached. Concentrate on raising your youngest daughter and seeing to her needs. I’m sure she has at the least development issues due to how premature she was.. IDK.. just my two cents.
What’s wrong with being extra careful and taking a test? I take one every month just to be sure, and its not a bad idea for any woman who’s having sex, especially since no birth control is 100% and mistakes/bad luck happen.
Is she a baby factory or something. OMFG!
I once took a pregnancy test because I was a week or two late and I wanted to go out drinking. So, I don’t fault her for that.
But. I can’t even put into words how disgusted I am by suggesting that they would home school their children’s college educations.
Sooner or later, these kids are going to leave the home and you can’t isolate them forever. You’ve already stolen their youth by making them raise each other (especially the girls) and now you’re taking their early adulthood from them as well. Awesome.
There are Christian colleges in the states; why can’t they be sent there?
CB,
You forgot healthcare costs. Jim Bob was elected to 1 term in the Arkansas State Congress and is entitled to free healthcare for himself and his family for life.
As a self-employed business owner, free healthcare is a huge expense off his back.
What’s with that awful 80s hair?
Home-school college does seem…weird. If you really believe the rest of the world will compromise your faith and even as adults you are expected to turn your back on the mainstream of society, then you aren’t that different from being Amish, say. Except even the Amish give their young adults a chance to option out! (Rumspringa) Also, I’d say the Amish have a better aesthetic going on, clotheswise.
This couple bothers me so much.
It should be the quality of the time you pass with your children not how many you can push out that “pleases God”
And stop with the bad hair
wow woman!!!how many kids is enough?
they infuriate me. if you are so concerned with god’s will regarding procreation, then cease the medical intervention. poor josie would have never made it, see if you still go at it like rabbits when kid after kid passes away.
Hey how come this woman with 18 (ah hell I lost count) kids has more sex than most of us here?
I only have 3, and they are teens/tween.
I am most def doing something wrong? LOL
Sorry, but declaring your home a “church” when there obviously no services going on there is called TAX FRAUD.
Do these kids not meet the educational standards for college?? I don’t have a problem with homeschooling, but parents should have to be held as accountable as the teacher would be, if the kids were in school.
It pisses me off that they don’t pay property taxes. Maybe I’ll open a church in my basement to save $8000 per year! People who think this family is self supporting are delusional. They make their money the SAME way Kate Gosselin makes hers (by pimping out their kids on TV) AND they get out of paying taxes. There are people who really can’t afford their taxes (like the elderly) and these assholes have plenty of money and get away with not paying.
Stupid bitch.
So God wants you to have more babies than you can afford. Does he also want you to whore yourself out on reality television?
i applaud them for not being on welfare like octobat. but i find it distasteful that the older kids raise the babies. older sibs helping out is one thing but becoming a mother to you little brothers and sisters is wrong-especially when your parents are still there are are able to do it themselves.
This family is beyond creepy. Michelle is definitely addicted to the attention of pregnancy or even the possibility of it.
They dont do it all on their own either, like others on here have posted.
The saving of health care alone is more than most people have, same for property taxes. I know Id have an extra $500.00 + a month just from not having to pay those 2 things and I have a very small house and no kids.
@Rita– seriously! hilarious! i’m your new biggest fan.
Yeah, these people seem nice, do-gooder types and all that, but they disgust me.
Jim was a State Representative from ’99-’02. They pay for their own private health insurance.
If you are going to hate them, hate them using the correct info.
There is nothing wrong with taking online college classes. Lots of people in the US finish their college education by going that route. I prefer online college courses b/c you aren’t depending on how good/bad the classroom instructor is.
I can’t imagine having that many kids.
It seems weird to me, to be on one hand religious, dress in plain clothing; follow strict doctrines – no dancing, no drinking; the girls are not allowed any secondary education, etc. and then on the other hand to whore the whole family out on national television on a reality show. Is this not a sign of greed and avarice?…surely frowned upon in their religion (the loads of money they make per episode).
I should’ve re-read that. I meant: There are alot of reasons to not like them, but it should be based on correct info.
This is such old news it scared me again.
If they are not paying taxes on their home or “home goods”, then they are getting the equivalent of welfare.
Oh, and the doula BS is just that, BS. Doula is greek for female slave and you don’t have to have any training to be one. It is not a midwife and basically is someone who does light housework. Guess what? All the girls in that house are already doulas.
@raven, where the hell are you getting your info on doulas? my friend is in TRAINING to be one. maybe once upon a time that’s what doula meant, but not anymore.
@ raven: the word doula comes from the greek word “doule” which means “a woman who serves” which is not necessarily the same thing as a slave. a doula is licensed by the state, gives emotional support to the pregnant woman and serves as a helper for the midwife. she also helps with light housework and bathing the baby, etc., like a baby nurse. i have a couple of friends who used doulas and said they were wonderful. sounds like you just have an issue with that occupation.
as for michelle duggar she needs to super glue her knees shut.
Seems as though none of their daughters would need training to be a doula… they’ve been doing it their whole lives.
@ rita – there’s NO WAY a cork would fit.
A Doula from Greek dialect is a female servant, however “modern Greek” meaning to the word “Doula” is a woman who assists another woman during labor and provides support to her, the infant, and the family after childbirth.
The King’s Speech: douladuggar
I think it’s a fiction that they really support themselves. TLC supports them.
I also think if the Duggars were black, or any other non-white ethnicity, there would be a LOT more people slamming them for their profligate spawning.
How convenient that their home has been declared as a church. I know that there are many devout families who feel the same way about their homes, but I doubt they get the those benefits.
Just because one wants to have as many children as God allows doesn’t mean one should! Putting your future unborn child’s life in danger, putting your life in danger (i.e. Michelle’s pregnancy with Josie) is extremely selfish. They really should stop trying for another baby and focus on their family.
My cousin is a doula. She works for wealthy family and makes about $3,000 a week. Not sure I’d be knocking that…..as for the Duggars, they do have services in their home, so I guess they do qualify for some exemptions. Why’d you want your uterus to hang to your knees, I’ll never know, but it’s ok by me. I don’t care what anyone does, as long as they don’t want me to pay for it.
Just because they’ve created enough children to fill a small church does NOT make their HOUSE a church.
Do they hold services open to the public? Last I checked, that’s what it took to be a ‘church’. So you hold a private religious service with your family at your house. Again, does *not* qualify it as a church.
@Lemon Drops@(8) – What’s wrong with being extra careful and taking a test?
It’s not the fact that she took the test that anyone is criticizing… It’s that doing so means that it’s possible (thus announcing they’re still having unprotected sex.)
@Dorothy@(4) & Krissy_Kitty@(7) – I agree. (older children being forced to raise the younger). It’s not their responsibility… It’s unfair all around, & the parents need to be tending to the younger kid’s needs.
Having so many babies, so close together… they can’t be getting all the love & attention they require from their *parents*. By they time they’ve become toddlers, which is such an important time, (sometimes even before) there’s a newborn for the parents to focus on.
I honestly think the children are being pressured not to leave home. Perhaps even being made to feel guilty. There’s no reason they can’t find a good christian college to attend. They’ve become adults & need to hop out of the (incredibly crowded) nest, learn to live their own lives.
I think the parents don’t want them to go, but not *just* for the reasons most would understand, but because they *need* them there to take care of the younger children. She & Bob just can’t do it, it’s too many. So they’re burdening them even further, keeping them from living normal lives.
They make me sick… especially after going through the health issues they experienced with the youngest. How can they continue to allow pregnancies when they know, & have even SEEN, the dangers that can come from it at her age? It’s horrible.
@lemon drops I cosign. I have a very irregular cycle, so I take a pregnancy test once a week for every week past four weeks from my last period. Even though I have reproductive issues and it’s somewhat unlikely that I’ll end up pregnant, there’s no harm in being sure!
That said, this woman needs a sanity test much more than a pregnancy test.
I think one child is a blessing. Two or three children is a great number. Five children is pushing it a little. At seven or eight kids, I hope you run your own daycare. Ten kids, and your uterus has to start feeling like a clown car. Fifteen kids and the situation is bordering on vaginal terrorism. At nineteen kids? I don’t know.
I think Michelle must have birthed out her good sense several babies ago. Where is a good case of early onset menopause when you need it?
ugh, they should pay a green tax. Replace yourselves and move on.
LOL @ DetRiot Girl!
I defintily think Michelle is a baby addict. “Spend some time with one of my kids? Let me make sure IM not pregnant first!” Geez lady get OVER yourself and spend time with the 19 you have! Im actually surprised she’s doing something with one of her kids.
I think it’s BS that they don’t pay property taxes because they’re a “church”. Taxes support police, firefighters, trash collection, etc, all service they might someday need. It’s not like they have a hardship put upon them either – they CHOOSE to have this many children.
I feel sorry for their littlest one, constantly put on TV and magazine covers despite all the health problems. Hopefully she doesn’t have any development problems, because I doubt she’d get the attention she’d need, especially if more babies eventually happen.
I watched one episode of this show and everyone was waaaaaay too freaking nice. I never trust that shit … the people that are all goody two shoes around you and smile and say please and thank you. Those are the serial killers of the world people … all I gotta say on them … creep me out
How ironic; she took a pregnancy test to make sure she wasn’t endangering the life of a fetus, but had no regard for the lives of the 19 children already born who depend on her to be alive and parent them.
Really shows how messed up that movement is. Once you’ve exited the womb, you’re on your own kid!
Whoa! How do I get my home declared a church? Must be nice to live at “church” and avoid all those taxes… we all know god loves those who flake out on their obligations to society the best!!!
@jc126,
“I also think if the Duggars were black, or any other non-white ethnicity, there would be a LOT more people slamming them for their profligate spawning.”
100% COSIGN
How can they get away with claiming their home to be a church? Unless they have other members from outside of their family coming in atleast once a week for services I don’t think they should be allowed to claim it. Property and purchase taxes can be a large amount of money especially in their case. I’m sure their home is near mansion size and if they’re paying 3,000 just on food I can only imagine how much they pay in taxible expenses.
“Fifteen kids and the situation is bordering on vaginal terrorism.”
@ detriotgirl: thanks for that! i will add this to my “awful-yet-hilariously- apt terminology” file.
Makes me wonder why attention & money hungry people can have so many kids (Octo-mom, Gosselins, Duggars, etc) but geniunely normal, loving couples are left with heartaches and sad realities of infertility.
And for this woman to have a show, parading ALL of her kids, that gets talked about so much just about everyhere is heartwrenching for people like me. How is it fair? Wouldn’t God consider this Greed, or even a type of Gluttony?
isn’t it said that “God helps those who help themselves”? so the duggars should help themselves by using birth control!!! I really despise people who live like they have no free will and have to await Gods decisions. if there is a God I doubt he is thinking “I better let those idiots have another baby”
Gotta keep the interest on that showing going somehow. These people have sold their soul. I don’t care what they say.
@Lisa Turtle, seriously! Small business owner here too. Here in NJ healthcare costs us $1000 per month w/o dental or vision. Property taxes on our business is $10,000 a year! No doubt the Duggars are saving some serious money.
@Mimi, where do you live that healthcare and property taxes only cost $500 mo? I’d like to move there…
They’re holding that poor child up like a prop. Hold her like an infant, dammit!
They make me stabby.
Maybe this one will kill her and stop this foolishness.
Property taxes are*
Uh long day!
Don’t do it!
Ooooh that’s sneaky, having the home declared a church so they don’t have to pay property taxes. I’ll make a note of that for later. Do you also have to create a child army, or will a church of one suffice? hmmmm…
lol ITA Ruffian9. Stabbies of the world unite!
Shannon – Sooo true … my thoughts exactly when she said she’d keep having babies even if it put her life in danger. It isn’t just about you, stupid, you have 18 children depending on you. Guess they are in the hands of God too … how magical God is just does everything for us. I’m gonna leave my laundry until God does it too …
i heard she has her own ultrasound machine
As a doula, I would just love to say that it warms me to see everyone jump in to clarify what one is! Not too long ago, no one had ever heard of them, or they were considered hippy-birth-zealots. So yay for that!
Michelle Duggar will never take birth control. She tried it early in their marriage and feels it caused a miscarriage. That is a horrible loss to suffer, and I won’t speak ill of their decision as a married couple who can support their kids. I may not make that same decision, but it’s her right to do so. I do think God blessed us with brains and relatively clockwork cycles for good reason, but they have made their choices and are flourishing well enough.
I homeschool, too. While these folks are awfully religious, their kids are hardly sheltered and unsocialized. What they are sheltered from has nothing to do with homeschooling and everything to do with their parents’ religious choices.
I’ve decided to let God determine how many children I have too. I wear condoms every time I have sex and if God really wants me to have children then he’ll find a way around that.
Yuck that means they had to have sex at least 19x.
I have never seen the show so I don’t know if I can really comment but I am really waiting for a tell-all book 20 years from now from one of the kids to tell us what really went on in that house.
Prehistoric.
And if she’s declared her home a church that is some serious bullshit. So tax payers, we’re picking up the slack for this freak show?
But they’re so holy I’m sure a whopping 10% goes to … right, themselves again. Church.
What I can’t help but think about.. is that Bob is 45, & Michelle is 44. Their current youngest children graduate when:
3 year old, Parents = (B)60 & (M)59.
2 year old, Parents = (B)61 & (M)60.
1 year old, Parents = (B)62 & (M)61.
That’s bad enough,… but they’re considering another? (another, knowing that her age is making the pregnancies a big risk of deformity, mental illness, down syndrome..plus the risk of miscarriage increases with age.) How is this fair to these kids? The parents may not live long enough to even attend their youngest children’s graduation… or their weddings.
And I don’t care how great a parent someone may be… it’s impossible to give THAT MANY children the time, love & attention they need. There’s just not enough hours in a week (sans sleep) to do that. Again, incredibly unfair to keep going with this.
fame whores………why eles have children for the sake of rating??
Whoever said it above is 100% correct: they CAN’T have those older girls leaving home! There’s no way they can take care of the dozen or so younger ones (including a high-needs baby, who is probably a full-time job by herself) without all those young adult/older teen girls! They’re the Sister Moms.
@ Chris,
Okay?! I was conceived on the pill, so… Had a college acquaintance that conceived on the pill, spermacide, and a diaphragm…and yet…
Raised eyebrows @ “CollegePlus!”. What the fuck is that? Fast-food college. They are tring really hard to keep these kids at home, especially the girls (sexist asses).
Seriously, I feel like this family should be a product of the East with their value system.
Somebody tie her tubes please!
Will somebody please have them fixed nixed spaded something
please stop. please stop. There’s way too many of their genes in the pool.
This family needs to look at their hypocritical ways in that they don’t allow TV in their own homes, yet TV is how they support their family. They want to create a world where Duggars rule–check out the 20 year old running for City Council and losing by 60 votes in Tonitown. In 15 years, he would win because there in 20 years, there will be enough votes with people dying off and Duggars becoming of age. This family is trying to make a city ruled by Duggars and they may well succeed. As for the CollegePlus degree, you may as well go pay for a diploma off the Internet. I highly doubt a Fortune 500 company is going to hire you into a position based on your CollegePlus degree.
The Duggar’s used to be reasonable people. On their website it states that they used to use birth control but one time Michelle got pregnant anyway and then had a miscarriage. Then, instead of getting therapy to deal with their loss–they got all crazy with this odd form of religion. The ultra large family is their way of making up for their loss. I feel bad for their kids…especially the daughters. It should be against the law to teach anyone that they are lesser…shouldn’t get an education…and that their only destiny is to work in the home and be a mother. Their oldest son is already married with a child. He and his wife should be in college.
Actually the Duggars do pay property taxes; it’s in the county records. most if not all people on this board.
ugh these people make me sick
This is ridiculous,,I am pretty concerned with Michelle’s condition..Generally it takes about 1.5years for a woman to restore her pre-pragnancy. But Michelle doesn’t seem to have enough time to restore her body..She’s just a baby machine…Definitely she has been abusing herself..
On the duggars website they have (or at least they used to) links to IBLP, an organization run by a minister named bill gothard. Gothard teaches women (I reasearchd him extensively that women should have as many children as possible and that women are to one hundred pecent, submit to male authority. Higher education is a no-no for people in this system because it causes (or may cause) debt. Also, if you go on you tube and type in “14 children and pregnant again) you will find an original episode where michelle herself says that she weans at six month and then the baby goes to a buddy. she does NOT raise her kids. Her daughters do it.
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Good God Duggars!! We (most) of us love babies but stop already, If you want more kids, there are so many unwanted children looking for good homes ADOPT!!
stop adding to the worlds over population…..