Skip to main content

Out of all of the Duggars-in-law, Lauren Swanson might be the least liked. Duggar family followers have a lot of negative things to say about Lauren, who married Josiah Duggar in June 2018. Fans have accused her of being a drama queen, and she’s also been accused of stealing Josie Bates’ Instagram aesthetic. Nevertheless, fans are now a bit concerned about the mother of one. In recent holiday photos, Lauren doesn’t seem to be enjoying her time with the Duggar family, and many eagle-eyed fans believe she might be inherently unhappy in her marriage.

Lauren was spotted in Jana’s photos looking unhappy

While many Duggar followers were focused on the absence of Jill Duggar and Derick Dillard from the Duggar family holiday celebration, a few caught a glimpse of Lauren looking pretty miserable. Reddit fans note that the mother of one is seated on a couch holding her younger daughter in one photo, and she doesn’t look like she’s in the holiday spirit. In the photo, she actually looks pretty forlorn.

While the rest of the family is actively engaged with one another, Lauren has either purposefully or subconsciously seated herself away from the rest of the family. Her husband isn’t anywhere near her, either. Instead, he seems to be busy interacting with his nieces and nephews, leaving his bride to flounder in the chaos that must be a Duggar family Christmas.

Fans think Josiah and Lauren’s marriage is doomed to fail

The Instagram shot is only the most recent shred of evidence that followers have uncovered to suggest Lauren and Josiah’s marriage is doomed to fail. From the moment the couple announced their engagement, followers were incredulous. The pair just don’t appear to be suited to one another. In fact, Josiah seemed to be better suited to the woman he courted long before he met Lauren. In 2015, Josiah announced his courtship with Marjorie Jackson. It was called off a few months later.

Fans are suspicious of the marriage for another reason.  Many believe that Josiah may actually be gay. There is no concrete evidence regarding the theories on Josiah’s sexuality, and many forums consider speculating on the sexuality of members of the family to be verboten. Rumors and speculations about Josiah, however, persist. iHeart notes that many fans believed Josiah was sent off to an IBLP program because of his rumored sexuality. Again, there is no evidence to suggest that Josiah enrolled in the program for that reason. Several Duggar boys have been apart of the same program.

Were the couple forced to wed?

Further pushing the misery narrative is the fact that many followers believe Josiah and Lauren were all but forced to walk down the aisle. It has been speculated that several of the Duggar marriages were arranged, or, at the very least, highly encouraged. A church insider spilled the beans to Radar Online in June 2019. The insider claims that Josh Duggar’s marriage to Anna Duggar was arranged to deal with Josh’s inappropriate behavior.

It has also been suggested that Josiah was forced to find a bride after a private Facebook profile was uncovered by Jim Bob Duggar. The rumored account was said to be secular in nature. There is no further information about what type of content the rumored profile contained, and there is no evidence that it ever actually existed. Lauren was also spotted in an earlier episode of the family’s first reality TV show, 19 Kids and Counting, lending credence to the notion that their marriage was arranged.