Jim Bob and Michelle Duggar Blast Amazon Prime’s New Docuseries on Their Family as ‘Ill Intentions Hurting People We Love’

AP photo/ Columbus Dispatch, Kyle Robertson

Jim Bob and Michelle Duggar, who starred in TLC’s 19 Kids and Counting before it was canceled in 2015, have issued a statement against Amazon Prime’s new docuseries centered on the controversy surrounding their family.

Shiny Happy People: Duggar Family Secrets premiered on the streamer today, and the heads of the household have pushed back on their own site:

The recent “documentary” that talks about our family is sad because in it we see the media and those with ill intentions hurting people we love. Like other families, ours too has experienced the joys and heartbreaks of life, just in a very public format. This “documentary” paints so much and so many in a derogatory and sensationalized way because sadly that’s the direction of entertainment these days.

The reality TV stars belong to the ultraconservative Christian organization, The Institute in Basic Life Principles, the tenets of which include bearing as many children as possible. The Duggars are parents to 19 children, some of whom have made the news themselves. Namely Josh Duggar, who admitted to sexually abusing several victims, including some of his own sisters, in 2015 and was convicted of possessing child pornography in 2021.

19 Kids and Counting was rebooted by TLC as Counting On — this time without Josh Duggar — and was canceled in 2021.

A handful of Duggar siblings have also left their family’s religion and spoken out about their changes of heart. Jinger Duggar Vuolo published a memoir, Becoming Free Indeed: My Story of Disentangling Faith from Fear, and Jill Duggar makes an appearance in the new docuseries.