When Josh Duggar was investigated on child pornography charges, things had been going pretty well for the former 19 Kids and Counting star. He’d been working at a used car lot and had bought property with his wife Anna Duggar, a home the two had major plans to renovate and call their own. Only, months later, Anna Duggar was reported to be living with the couple’s now eight kids on patriarch Jim Bob and his wife Michelle’s property. So what happened?
First and foremost, evidence presented in a hearing ahead of Josh Duggar's child pornography trial mentioned the former reality star talking to federal agents about the renovation project in the works. Audio presented included this comment Josh made about the home, made as part of questioning the former TV personality was a part of during a November 2019.
We’re in the process of remodeling. I got a big project up there. It’s 8,000 square feet. So we spend some time there, sometimes at my parents’ place as well. So we’re kind of split between the two, depending what we have going on there
The Arkansas house in question was obviously quite large and could easily have supported Anna and the kids, so why are they no longer there? Well first and foremost, as the comment itself notes, the eldest Duggar son and his large brood had already been staying with Jim Bob and Michelle at least some of the time as renovations were undergone on the house. Reports indicate they stay on the property in a renovated warehouse space adjacent to where the older Duggar parents live.
Interestingly, reports recently broke that the Springdale Arkansas home – the home Josh and Anna were planning to use as a longterm home – was actually put on the market in September of 2020, some time before Duggar was even arrested on child pornography charges in April of 2021 but some time after it was known he was being investigated. The home went on the market and sold for under asking price, according to a report over at The Sun, for $450,000.
The Springdale, Arkansas house had initially been listed for $799,000, but varying reports indicate the home was a “shell” and still in need of extensive renovation and the sale price did not come anywhere close to asking. Interestingly the date the home came on the market came the same month in 2020 that reports broke that Josh Duggar’s Wholesale Motorcars business no longer existed and that Josh had moved in with his parents.
Obviously, the investigation into the car dealership impacted revenue for Josh and led to the closing of the business where the computer featuring child pornography was found, but it’s been impactful to the whole Duggar family, as well. Previous reports have indicated that after TLC canceled Counting On following Josh's arrest, the Duggars are losing a significant amount of revenue each month. That doesn't just extend to Anna Duggar, who had appeared on the show, and it doesn't just extend to Jim Bob and Michelle, but Jessa and the other kids appearing on TV were very much impacted as well.
In fact, estimates indicate that the show's income netted the Duggars around $850,000 per year, which Jim Bob Duggar was allegedly "pissed about." Jessa Duggar Seewald and some of the other siblings would have combined that money with income streams such as social media deals, money from ads on YouTube channels and more.
One other thing that is interesting to note about this whole situation is that Jim Bob recently also sold some property off for $46K. It's unclear what this money is being used for, but one has to think helping to take care of Anna and eight kids isn't cheap. It's also uncertain what the legal fees to help Josh through his trial and the ongoing appeal process have cost -- or will continue to cost.
