Joseph Duggar‘s cousin Amy Duggar King is extending her support to his accuser.
During a June 14 episode of The Sarah Fraser Show, Duggar King revealed she has spoken to the young girl who was allegedly molested by the “19 Kids and Counting” alum, 31, while on a family vacation when she was just 9 years old.
“I reached out,” Duggar King explained. “I just gave her hope. I said, ‘This doesn’t have to destroy you. It really truly doesn’t.’ I just tried to offer her encouragement and I told her that if she ever just needed a safe place to talk, that I’m here, and she just said, ‘Thank you so much.’ much.”
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Duggar King said she also commended the girl for coming forward and told her, “You speaking out and you being so honest and vulnerable, knowing the backlash and knowing the people that would turn their backs on you and not believe you and all the things, you are such a strong person.”
Her hopes for the alleged victim is that she “sleeps at night” and “finds healing,” Duggar King said, adding that she informed the girl about mental health counseling and “how important that is to go and to talk it out loud and to and to clear her conscience.”
“It’s not on her,” Duggar King continued. “So I just offered her just my entire support.”
What is Joseph Duggar accused of doing?
Duggar was arrested and charged with lewd and lascivious behavior involving sexual activity with minor on March 18, after the girl alleged “several incidents of sexual abuse” that took place during a 2020 family vacation to Panama City Beach, according to the Bay County Sheriff’s Office in Florida. He has pleaded not guilty.
The child told investigators that Duggar repeatedly asked her to sit on his lap, at one point manipulating her underwear and grazing her genitals on a couch and under a blanket. He later apologized to her, per the sheriff’s office, and no other incidents occurred.
Reflecting on the moment she found out Duggar’s alleged victim was a minor, Duggar King said she “immediately cried.” She also said she believes her cousin, who has pleaded not guilty, will take responsibility for the alleged crimes.
“The whole situation is just beyond horrific,” Duggar King said.
The ex-television personality is currently on pretrial release after posting a $600,000 bond and has a pretrial hearing scheduled for late July.
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Joseph Duggar’s cousin praises his young accuser for speaking out
