Jinger Duggar reveals gender of her unborn baby and compares family upbringing to growing up in a ‘cult’

Jinger Duggar Vuolo revealed the baby gender of her upcoming third child on Tuesday and also made strong comments about her upbringing in the reality TV family amid the staunch religious beliefs of her parents, Jim Bob and Michelle Duggar.

Jinger, 31, who has been married to husband Jeremy Vuolo, 37, for eight years, said Entertainment tonight On Tuesday she is expecting a baby boy in March.

“We’re having a boy and we’re very excited,” said Jinger, who shares daughters Felicity, six, and Evangeline, three, with Vuolo.

The Arkansas-born reality star said the gender reveal even caught her off guard: “I was so shocked when I found out it was a boy because I feel like everything felt the same. I actually had a lot of similarities with the girls’ pregnancy.’

She added: ‘I was so shocked I almost fell off my chair. I thought, “How is this kid going to fit in?” But we’ll keep the name a secret until the baby is born, and we always do.”

Jinger told the show her reasons for keeping the child’s name private until the moment of birth.

“We’ve had some friends who have had issues with people like, ‘Oh, I’m going to share the name and then no one will like it,'” Jinger said. ‘But once that baby is born, everyone thinks it’s the cutest name ever. So that’s our motto, our theory about it.’

The reality star made several media appearances on Tuesday as she promoted the release of the book People Pleaser: Breaking Free from the Burden of Imaginary Expectations.

Speak with Fox News digitalJinger said that as an adult she realized that she had had an upbringing that was “cult-like in many ways” under the tutelage of Jim Bob and Michelle.

Jinger previously wrote the 2023 book Becoming Free Indeed, which detailed her 2017 defection from the church she was raised in, the Institute for Basic Life Principles (IBLP).

“I exposed the harmful teachings I grew up with, but then I began to realize that I was so trapped by what people thought about me that I was almost unwilling to speak on the subject.” she told Fox. “I was so afraid of losing my community, my friends, my family, the ones I love so much.”

She added: ‘I thought that if I spoke out against them I would be risking everything – and as a people pleaser, what I feared most was the censure I would face.’

Jinger told ET that she has a “complicated” relationship with her parents because of her outspokenness: “There are definitely difficulties, things that we can’t see together.”

Change of scenery

Jinger told Fox that a move from Laredo, Texas opened her eyes and “stuffed her” [her] like a ton of bricks’ in the way she came across to people she didn’t know well.

“I lived in Laredo for two and a half years,” she said. “When we left Texas, one of the ladies in our community said, ‘I’m going to miss you, but I also feel like I didn’t get to know you—maybe you didn’t let me into your life because as much as I had popular.”

She continued, “I had been so wary. I had been so afraid of what people thought about me that I wanted to continue this feat. I was afraid that if I showed them that I was having hard days, they wouldn’t like me. Maybe they thought I was insecure about what I didn’t know.’

Jinger said she received a cold reception from some people in her family about the content of her first book.

“It was hard because I did get some criticism from friends and loved ones,” Jinger said. “I think it was the hardest thing I’ve ever done, but I realized that ultimately I had to speak my truth.”

Jinger said that “at the same time an overwhelming majority of them were helped” by her publicly questioning the validity of the church’s teachings. She said, “They thought, ‘I haven’t considered whether these teachings are accurate.’

She added, “Helping people break out of the cult-like teachings I grew up in has been the most rewarding thing; Looking back, as a people pleaser I could have remained silent.

“But then so many people would still be stuck with those teachings. It is more encouraging than anything to see how many people I have helped share my story.”

Josh Duggar’s troubled past and legal troubles

The Duggar family’s TLC reality series 19 Kids and Counting was canceled in July 2015 after Josh Duggar’s history of molestation came to light.

Josh was investigated in 2006 after a family associate tipped them off, but officials cited the statute of limitations when deciding not to press charges at that time.

Josh Duggar is currently serving a 12.5-year prison sentence in connection with his 2021 conviction for downloading child sexual abuse images.

Federal officials investigating Josh Duggar said he downloaded the illegal images from a car dealership where he had worked in Arkansas.

Authorities who examined Josh Duggar’s computer testified that they found images in 2019 “depicting the sexual abuse of children, including toddlers,” the newspaper said. AP.

In June, the Supreme Court rejected an appeal by Josh Duggar against his 2021 conviction. The US highest court “did not address the denial, as is customary,” the AP said.

Previously, Josh Duggar’s conviction was upheld by the lower courts, which did not accept his case that his lawyers should have inquired about an ex-employee at the car dealership who had a previous sex offense conviction; and had used the computer in the middle of the case.

Attorneys for Josh Duggar did not question the ex-employee in the deposition after the judge said they were prohibited from mentioning the ex-employee’s sex offense conviction, according to the AP.

Before his past came to light, Josh Duggar worked as a lobbyist for the Family Research Council, a conservative organization. His current release date from custody is scheduled for October 2, 2032, InTouch reported.