Amy Duggar Describes Learning Grandfather Was a ‘Predator’

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Amy Duggar King grew up knowing and loving her maternal grandfather.

Jimmy Lee Duggar was the father of both Jim Bob and Deanna.

Growing up, Amy had a connection to Josh before ever learning that he was a monster.

Now, she’s opening up about the other sexual predator in her family — and the moment that she learned why she was never allowed to be alone with her grandfather.

Amy Duggar was close with her grandfather — but never ‘too’ close

As she promotes her upcoming memoir, Holy Disruptor, the infamous Duggar cousin is also talking up a storm.

Speaking to People, Amy Duggar King is delving into the topic of her grandfather and the dark family secret surrounding him.

Growing up, she loved Jimmy Lee — but no one allowed her to spend any alone time with him. Not ever.

“I wondered all the time,” Amy recalled of this special rule. “I asked.”

She described: “I asked my mom, I asked my grandma, and they obviously were going to protect the answer.”

“They didn’t want me to know that information growing up,” Amy explained.

When her grandfather died in 2009, she says, her mother told her that her grandfather was — in Amy’s words — a “predator.”

That finally explained everything. Though she had “obviously assumed” that something along those lines would explain this unusual family rule.

“I always had assumptions as to why, but it was never spoken about,” Amy described.

“It was a little difficult,” she admitted. “But I’m one of those people that when I was little, I asked questions, sure. But if something was told to me, I just believed it.”

She learned so many things that she and her grandfather could not do together

“I was very naive, and I’m a kid, so I was like, ‘Okay,’” Amy Duggar recalled of not questioning this household rule.

“I knew grandpa couldn’t go to the trampoline with me,” she acknowledged. She added: ‘I knew grandpa couldn’t sit and watch a movie with me.”

Amy continued listing: “I knew grandpa couldn’t be in a car with me. I knew grandpa couldn’t take me to school.”

She summarized: “There were so many things, and I just knew that that’s how it was.” 

Amy’s late grandmother, Mary Duggar, would make certain that her door was locked. Deanna would also check on her. That second one is usually normal, but was clearly an added layer of precaution.

“It was like this protective tent over me, if you will, that was not going to let a bug in,” Amy characterized.

When it came time for Deanna to tell her what sort of man her grandfather really was, it was a difficult moment. But she and her mom bonded over it.

“My mom and I sat there and cried, and I just held her, and she held me,” Amy described.

She characterized: “It was like this insane bonding moment that we’ve been needing for our entire life.”

Amy continued: “that we finally were allowed to just be really vulnerable with each other and share. And thank God.” 

‘It was so close to me’

Amy Duggar has many positive memories of her late grandfather. She loved him and his sense of humor.

But, obviously, had her mother and grandmother been less vigilant, she “could have been a victim, too.” 

Amy remarked: “It’s crazy to think it was so close to me in so many ways.”

Many may find it shocking that her family allowed Amy to know this man at all. But, generations ago, it was not that uncommon for one relative to attend every family gathering — but with parents setting rules for their children around them.

This is very much the world that much of the Duggar family — not just the cult to which Jim Bob adheres — belongs. It is not a safe world for children. We are glad that Amy was lucky enough to avoid that particular horror.