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Josh Duggar will blame just about anyone for his legal troubles. The former 19 Kids and Counting star is currently serving a prison term for possessing and receiving child pornography. He’s been fighting the convictions through appeals. None of his appeals have been successful, thus far. Still, he’s trying one more time. Duggar, representing himself, recently submitted documents to support his motion for a new trial. In the filing, Josh Duggar claims he was not aware of a “statement” that was being made about his “sex addiction” back in 2015. The former reality TV star claims he was forced to fake the affliction to satisfy TLC and keep the Duggar family on TV.

Josh Duggar claims TLC threatened to end the family’s show if he didn’t play along with a sex addiction storyline

Josh Duggar has submitted a motion for a new trial. The father of seven and convicted felon has appealed his conviction before, but this is the first time he’s blaming TLC for an allegedly unfair trial. According to a recent court filing obtained by the U.S. Sun, Josh Duggar claims the prosecution used an admission of a “sex addiction” against him during his trial. He’s now claiming that the statement, which was posted to his family’s Facebook page in 2015, is untrue.

Josh alleges that he was not aware the statement was being made when it was published, and that it was published under duress. The disgraced ultra-conservative Christian alleges TLC forced his family to publish the admission and keep up the storyline in order to keep their reality TV careers. Josh seems to be claiming that he played along to keep his extended family on TV. In the filing, he says that he has never had a sex addiction. Furthermore, he alleges his legal team was rebuffed when trying to refute the use of the prior statement.

The statement Josh is referring to was published after a series of back-to-back scandals. First, it was revealed that Josh had molested several of his sisters when he was still a teenager. The Duggar family claimed to have “handled” the situation in-house. Josh later admitted to having an extramarital affair after his involvement in the Ashley Madison scandal came to light. Josh resigned from his job in Washington, D.C., after the second scandal broke. Anna Duggar returned to Arkansas, while Josh Duggar moved into a treatment facility to allegedly deal with the sex addiction he claims he did not have. He later rejoined his family in Arkansas.

Josh Duggar’s child pornography arrest ended the Duggar family’s show for good

While Josh Duggar’s molestation and infidelity scandal changed the way TLC worked with the Duggars, it didn’t end the family’s contractual partnership with the network. Instead, TLC rebranded the family’s show from 19 Kids and Counting to Counting On. The shift changed the focus of the reality TV series from Jim Bob and Michelle Duggar to the kids who were now starting families of their own, besides Josh and Anna Duggar, of course. Jill Dillard and Jessa Seewald headlined the new series.

While Counting On continued for several years with as much success as 19 Kids and Counting, Josh’s next scandal pushed TLC to finally cut ties for good with the family. After Josh was arrested for possessing and receiving child pornography, the family’s show went dark. While it appears another season of the series was planned, it never aired. The show was officially canceled. The Duggars were booted from the network after nearly two decades on the air.

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TLC has not commented on Josh Duggar’s most recent accusations, but the network has worked hard to distance itself from the Duggars since Josh’s arrest on child pornography charges. At the time of his arrest, the network issued a statement noting that Josh Duggar had not appeared on the network for several years. Executives also noted that they were giving the Duggar family space to handle Josh’s legal matters privately.

Josh was arrested in April 2021. The Duggars last appeared on TLC in March 2021. Josh was convicted in December 2021 and sentenced in May 2022. He is serving a 151-month sentence at FCI Seagoville.

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