‘Counting On’: Did Joy-Anna Duggar Finally Silence Those Shotgun Wedding Rumors?

Counting On fans have long speculated that Joy-Anna Duggar was pregnant when she tied the knot with Austin Forsyth in 2017. Joy-Anna moving the wedding date up didn’t put an end to the rumors, though the family has always maintained that Joy-Anna got pregnant in the days after she exchanged vows. But did Joy-Anna finally put the shotgun wedding speculation to rest?

Fans suspect a cover up

One of the biggest reasons why Counting On fans think Joy-Anna had a shotgun wedding is the fact that she suddenly moved the date of the ceremony. According to The Hollywood Gossip, many fans believe that Joy-Anna found out that she was pregnant in the months leading up to her nuptials and that the family made a decision to move the ceremony to prevent a huge scandal.

Jim Bob and Michelle Duggar have faced a good share of controversies over the years and would likely do everything in their power to avoid future ones. The family is well known for their conservative values, and Joy-Anna having a baby out of wedlock would be a big deal for all parties involved.

This is why fans think Joy-Anna avoided giving frequent updates on her pregnancy on social media, as the timeline would clearly indicate that she got pregnant before the wedding.

Timelines spark more rumors

With Joy-Anna refusing to update fans on the regular, it was difficult determining her official due date. Whenever the Counting On star did share a photo of her baby bump, fans immediately began to speculate on her term.

This naturally led to some intense back-and-forth about how Joy-Anna was much further along than she should have been if she had really gotten pregnant after the wedding.

Despite all of the speculation, Joy-Anna refused to engage the rumors. In fact, for the majority of her first pregnancy, Joy-Anna kept fans in the dark. This is not typical behavior for members of the Duggar family, most of whom share frequent photos of their pregnancies to keep their followers happy. Joy-Anna’s reluctance to post photos of her growing baby bump only fueled the shotgun wedding rumors more, that is until closer to her due date.

Joy-Anna finally offers a clue to her due date

Joy-Anna seemingly addressed the shotgun wedding rumors by sharing a photo of herself days before giving birth. The reality star posed alongside her husband for the picture and commented about how they were attending a car auction.

At the end of her caption, Joy-Anna tagged her post by revealing she was nine days away from her due date. She also included an emoji of a baby boy, confirming that she was going to have a son.

Joy-Anna ended up giving birth to her first child with Forsyth right around 39 weeks after tying the knot. A typical pregnancy is around 40 weeks, so it is entirely plausible that Joy-Anna did not get pregnant until after her wedding night. The Duggars have never really addressed the shotgun wedding rumors in public, and likely won’t, given the sensitive nature of the topic.

How would the Duggars react if the rumors were true?

For anyone who has watched an episode of Counting On, it is pretty obvious that the Duggars would disapprove of having a baby outside of marriage. Given their religious upbringing, Joy-Anna and the rest of her 18 brothers and sisters all vowed to remain abstinent until they exchange vows.

While Joy-Anna did break a few of the family’s courting rules, it would have taken a lot for her to break her vows and have sex before marriage. After all, the Duggars don’t even allow front hugs until they’ve put a ring on it.

With Joy-Anna giving birth close to 40 weeks after tying the knot, it seems more likely that the Counting On star is telling the truth and waited until her wedding night. Either way, we’ll probably never know the truth until a member of the family comes forward with some more evidence.