Shiny Happy People: The Real Story Behind the Duggar Family Documentaries
The Duggar Family is the subject of Shiny Happy People: Duggar Family Secrets, the newest docuseries on Amazon Prime, which premieres on June 2. The Duggar Family is well known for a series of reality TV shows centred on their lives. The show delves into the controversies that have made headlines and engulfed the family and the cult-like religious organisation they supported, the Institute in Basic Life Principles.
The TLC programme 19 Kids and Counting, which followed married couple Jim Bob and Michelle Duggar and their 19 kids on a daily basis for ten seasons between 2008 and 2015, was the most well-known of the Duggars’ productions.
The show portrayed a family that seemed to be in harmony, however Shiny Happy People, which includes Jill (Duggar) Dillard’s testimonials,
Shiny Happy People, which includes testimonies from Jill (Duggar) Dillard, her husband Derick, niece Amy (Duggar) King, as well as several former IBLP members, reveals that the family and larger religious group were dealing with allegations of sex abuse, child abuse, and financial mistreatment. The series presented a seemingly cohesive family unit.
Tia Levings, a former member of the IBLP who was interviewed for the series, claims that “they believe they’re populating the army that will help us.” “The Duggars’ television programme served as the catalyst for this to prosper. We’re all high on the sugar that makes the sparkling, joyful visuals.
These are the main lessons learned from the documentary.
Pictures from the 19 Kids and Counting set
Jim Bob Duggar’s political career led to his success in reality television. After serving as a Republican state legislator for Arkansas for four years, he decided to run for the U.S. Senate in 2002. Despite his failure to win, Discovery Network executives were interested in him after seeing pictures of his huge family attending campaign events in the media.
The Duggar family first appeared on the television network, which also featured TLC, in 2004. Later, episodes of 14 Children and Pregnant Again!, 17 Kids and Counting, and 19 Kids and Counting were made available. Millions of spectators tuned in to observe how the large family managed to complete errands like laundry, chores, grocery shopping, and commuting while appearing organised and tranquil. The episodes were all successes.
The programme proved beneficial for the network. According to Danielle Lindemann, author of True Story: What Reality TV Says about Us, “Reality TV can really give life to a network that isn’t exactly a juggernaut in terms of performances.”
She argues that the Duggars’ programmes provided the network new life by combining low-cost production with great audience and revenue.
the founder of the Institute of Basic Life Principles, Bill Gothard
IBLP is a Christian organisation that has been compared to a cult by former members, and the Duggar family adhered to its beliefs. More than 2 million people, according to estimates from IBLP, have attended their seminars. Fundamentalist Bill Gothard founded the church, but The Duggars ended up being their most famous members. “Tom Cruise served as the majority of people’s entry point into scientology. In many respects, the Duggars were exactly what Bill Gothard needed, according to preacher and journalist Josh Pease.
Gothard established the group in 1961, and it was severe in its instruction and continuously enforced gender standards. Rules included hitting children as punishment, homeschooling kids using Gothard’s “Advanced Training Institute” curriculum, dressing modestly like “pantaloons,” and having as many kids as possible, as exemplified by The Duggars. Additionally, it prohibited watching television, which is ironic given the Duggars’ eventual source of income. Gothard frequently quoted Psalm 127:5, which states, “Happy is the man that hath his quiver full of them.” As the documentary makes clear, Gothard himself had neither a wife nor children—another ironic twist.
The documentary emphasises how some of the congregation members thought that the IBLP teachings undereducated, abused, and mistreated them.
Former member Levings of the organisation said, “It’s patriarchal, it’s authoritarian, women don’t have rights, and children break.” That is the society that is being created.
complaints of harassment from previous female congregation members. According to Pease, Gothard seemed to be testing the limits of how far he could push a relationship before the other person became upset.
Gothard has previously refuted the accusations levelled against him and has declined to comment for the series.
According to a police investigation from ten years ago, In Touch Magazine reported in 2015 that Josh had forcibly assaulted at least five girls, including his sisters Jill and Jessa Duggar. The sisters spoke about the event in an interview with Megyn Kelly, who was then a Fox anchor, and mainly defended their brother. Jill Duggar remarked on Kelly’s show, “In our case it’s very mild compared to what happens to some.” Josh Duggar secretly confessed to the accusations to his parents in 2003, more than ten years before the police report was made public, and was then put to a Christian programme for punishment. The allegations against Duggar never led to any criminal charges being brought against him.
Jill Duggar clarifies the facts in the documentary eight years after the Megyn Kelly interview: “In hindsight, I wouldn’t have done the Megyn Kelly stuff. In the documentary, she said, “I felt like I was in a place of like burying the burden and the weight. “Despite volunteering, you still feel compelled to assist.” Derick Dillard, her husband, responds, “It was not voluntary,” adding that Jill had believed that it was her and her sister’s responsibility to keep the programme going.
After the incident, TLC continued producing several spin-off shows with a focus on the young ladies, including Jill and Jessa Counting On and Jill’s Wedding, which at the time had the greatest ratings in TLC history. 19 Kids and Counting was eventually cancelled.
In the documentary, Jill admits that she and her siblings did not receive any payment for taking part in these concerts. According to the documentary, Jim Bob Duggar apparently received millions of dollars. Jill acknowledges that “yes, we were taken advantage of.” “I didn’t receive a paycheck for seven and a half years of my adult life.”
Josh Duggar was found guilty of child pornography in May 2021. He is currently serving a 12-year sentence in a Texas federal prison.
The Joshua Generation, IBLP, and the Duggars’ Future
In the midst of his son’s federal child pornography probe, Jim Bob Duggar unsuccessfully ran for Arkansas’ State Senate. Despite the resignation of IBLP founder Gothard, Jim Bob Duggar has kept the organisation under his control.
He continues to be wed to his wife. They made a succinct statement to the filmmakers through their agent in which they stated that they “love each of their children tremendously and always desire each to live their god-designed lives to the fullest.”
The “Advanced Training Institute” homeschooling programme from IBLP closed to enrolment in 2021, however the lesson plans are still accessible online.
Alex Harris, a lawyer who was raised in the Christian homeschooling movement and had IBLP peers, claims that Gothard and the IBLP’s fundamentalist views have influenced the more recent iteration of the Joshua Generation, a political Christian youth movement.
“The whole purpose was really to position the best and the brightest of the Christian homeschool movement to assume positions of power and influence in the government and the law,” he asserts in the film. The organisation has been connected to former North Carolina congressman Madison Cawthorn, who represented the state for one term.
Duggar family members like Jill Duggar and ex-members of the fundamentalist movement are increasingly choosing to tell their stories online thanks to the development of social media and content creation platforms like YouTube and TikTok that don’t require an intermediary or network like TLC.
According to former IBLP member Chad Harris, “We had this power over the people who were hurting us the entire time.” As much as they tried to control us, it turned out that all we needed to do was talk since we were ultimately what they were most afraid of.
