Amy Duggar King says protecting her young son from the growing scandals surrounding the Duggar family has become one of her biggest priorities.
During a recent appearance on The Dory Jackson Interview, Amy opened up about how she has intentionally kept her 6-year-old son, Daxton, away from the darker controversies tied to her famous relatives.
“He doesn’t know that side of the family,” Amy said, explaining that her son only briefly met some members of the Duggar family when he was a baby — something she now admits she regrets.
“I will always shield him from that,” she said.
Amy explained that while she plans to eventually tell Daxton about her past growing up around the Duggar family and reality television fame, she believes he deserves a safe and innocent childhood for as long as possible.
“He’s 6-years-old. He needs to live in innocence,” she said. “I love that he’s having such a beautiful, happy childhood. A safe childhood.”
Her emotional comments come amid continued fallout surrounding cousin Joseph Duggar, who was arrested earlier this year on child molestation-related charges tied to allegations involving a then-9-year-old girl during a 2020 family vacation in Florida.
The arrest reignited painful public conversations surrounding the Duggar family’s past scandals, including those involving Joseph’s older brother Josh Duggar.
Josh was previously convicted on federal child sexual abuse material charges and is currently serving a lengthy prison sentence. Years before that conviction, he also admitted to molesting multiple girls as a teenager, including sisters Jill Duggar Dillard and Jessa Seewald.
Amy said the earlier scandals involving Josh became a major turning point in her life and pushed her to distance herself from the family environment she grew up around.
She also reflected on being surrounded by what she described as “toxic cycles” connected to the controversial religious organization Institute of Basic Life Principles, often referred to as IBLP.
Although Amy said she was never directly part of the group, she explained that growing up adjacent to its teachings eventually caused her to question many of the beliefs and dynamics she had accepted for years.
Now, she says her focus is firmly on giving her son the kind of childhood she feels many children around the Duggar world never truly had.
