In part two of an exclusive interview on Fox's The Kelly Files, Duggar daughters Jessa Siebold and Jill Dillard, defended their brother Josh, saying he is not a "child molester or a pedophile or a rapist" despite the fact that he molested them when they were ten and twelve, respectively.
Wednesday night Jim Bob and Michelle Duggar sat down with host Megyn Kelly, and talked about how they felt they had failed when a tearful 14-year-old Josh Duggar reportedly came to them in 2002 and said he had touched his sisters "inappropriately." Despite their efforts to prevent it from happening again, there was a series of incidents that continued into 2003.
Victims included four of the younger Duggar girls and a young woman identified only as a babysitter.
Friday night sisters Jill and Jessa spoke with Kelly, identifying themselves as two of Josh's victims.
Saying "This is something we chose to do, nobody asked us to do this," 22-year-old Jessa attempted to squelch the scandal, with Jill defending the family's reputation, saying, "If you go back and look at everything that people have seen in our lives – in television, you know – we've never claimed to be a perfect family."
“I can speak out and I can say this and set the record straight here. Like in Josh’s case, he was a boy, a young boy in puberty and a little too curious about girls. And that got him into some trouble, " Jessa explained. "And he made some bad choices, but really the extent of it was mild, inappropriate touching, on fully clothed victims, most of it while girls were sleeping.”
The young women stated that they were unaware they had been molested until told by their parents, saying they were shocked but added that what happened, as described to them by their parents, was "very mild."
Jill noted that, as a precaution, her parents locked the girls and the boys in their separate rooms from each other every night, which she described as "amazing" parenting.
Jessa stated that the family never thought the molestation would eventually be an issue when they signed up to do their reality show, believing it had been resolved 5 years prior and was a family secret.
While the two young women laughed throughout the interview, possibly out of nervousness, Jill broke into tears when discussing In Touch publishing the information.
"When I heard the police report was released, I said they can't do this to us," she said, with Jessa adding it was shocking to go to store and see their faces on a tabloid magazine.
Using some of the talking points used by her father earlier in the week, Jessa explained that the system had failed them and that receiving information on the case via the FOIA was illegal -- which has been disputed by multiple legal authorities.
While Josh Duggar's parents and two victimized sisters have come forward to discuss the molestation, the 27-year-ol Josh has avoided the media.
Watch video below, uploaded to YouTube
We will update this story as more becomes available.
