THE $25M DIVORCE
It’s over! Anna’s decision to ditch Josh throws the Duggars into chaos
An old scandal is coming back to haunt Josh Duggar. According to legal documents obtained exclusively by In Touch, the disgraced former reality star is set to appear in court on Feb. 27 to face off against Matthew Mccarthy, the La-based DJ and photographer who’s suing Josh for stealing his image and using it in profiles on the cheating website Ashley Madison and dating site Okcupid. Josh admitted he was an adulterer in August 2015 on the heels of being exposed as a child molester. “This legal case is the Duggars’ worst nightmare,” a family insider tells In Touch. “Josh and his parents, Jim Bob and Michelle, are terrified of what this lawsuit will do to the Duggars’ already tarnished reputation — and how many more secrets will come spilling out.”
But there’s one person who won’t be there to support Josh. After years of being humiliated, his long-suffering wife, Anna, is finally divorcing him and will ask for a payout in the millions, as experts estimate his famous family is worth from $15 million to $25 million. “Anna and Josh share the same bed, but she never has
sex with him anymore. She just does not want to,” says a source close to her. What she does want is for Josh and his family to give her what she feels she’s owed. “Anna knows the Duggar family has very deep pockets, and she will be asking for a huge settlement from Josh,” adds the family insider. “Anna feels Josh put her through hell with his disgusting behavior, so she believes she is completely justified in squeezing every penny out of him that she can.”
There’s no turning back. Though Anna, 28, stood by her man through his 2015 scandals as well as his six-month stint in faithbased sex rehab, the Mccarthy court case (documents pictured at upper left) was her tipping point. “Anna is sickened by the lawsuit. It’s a major reason for her deciding to divorce Josh,” explains the source close to Anna. In his original court papers filed last year, Mccarthy alleged that after the world discovered Josh, 28, was using his photo, Mccarthy became an object of ridicule and suffered as the shameful ordeal caused him to lose work. These claims will
‘‘ The Duggars once seemed so invincible. Not anymore” — A SOURCE
allow Mccarthy’s lawyers to question and explore Josh’s long, sordid history of lies. “Mccarthy’s lawyers can depose Josh and ask him questions about molesting five young girls, including four of his own sisters, as a teen and also all about cheating on Anna,” says the family insider. “Jim Bob and Michelle are worried that Mccarthy’s lawyers will also depose members of their family, which means they will all be forced to talk about Josh’s inappropriate sexual behavior, as well as the family’s cover-up of what he did. The Duggars are scared,” adds the family insider, “and Anna does not want to be there when the family’s filthiest secrets are unearthed.”
The ugly situation is nearly destroying Jim Bob and Michelle. “They have seen their marriage go through a huge amount of stress because of the situation with Josh,” explains a second family insider. They’ve fought over Josh’s behavior for years, “arguing over how to deal with him and his mistakes. Michelle usually wants to protect Josh, while Jim Bob takes a harder approach. The stress Jim Bob and Michelle will be under as a result of this could break them.”
Anna’s marriage has been broken for a long time. “There is no trust in the marriage anymore,” says the source close to her. “When Josh returned from his treatment center [in March] after the Ashley Madison
cheating scandal, Anna had his computer use locked down tight. She banned him from using a smartphone and had the home computer password-protected. Any internet use is now strictly-monitored by her.” Despite that, Josh still doesn’t suspect Anna will ever leave him. “He thinks she’ll stay because she was brought up to believe a wife should be subservient to her husband,” says the first family insider.
He’s in for a rude awakening. “Anna hasn’t told Josh she wants a divorce, but a friend of hers put her in touch with a lawyer, and Anna has spoken to the lawyer on the phone,” reveals the family insider. “She’s been putting off meeting them for some time because she was terrified of being spotted at their office, but she is now finally ready to make the move and will be visiting the attorney in the next week or
so.” The divorce papers, Anna has been told, “will be pretty simple to draft up,” adds the family insider. “She has been assured, given what she knows about the Duggar family, that the divorce will be uncontested.” Because Anna doesn’t work — like all the Duggar women, she stays home to raise kids — she can demand spousal as well as child support. “She can ask for a huge amount in spousal support because the Duggar family is worth many millions,” says La-based family law attorney Goldie Schon, who doesn’t represent the Duggars.
Anna deserves her fair share. “She is so hurt by what Josh did, and for a long time she blamed herself,” says the family insider “She listened to people around the Duggars who said that husbands stray only because their wives fail in their spousal duties.” Then she spoke to
people who were not brought up like her, adds the family insider, “and she realized how terrible that view was. She had nothing to apologize for. It was Josh who was the cause of all her heartache, and it’s Josh who needs to pay for what he’s done.”
Anna is worried about their four children. She is more upset about how Josh’s actions have — or will — hurt Mackynzie, 7, Michael, 5, Marcus, 3, and Meredith, 1, than by how they’ve affected her, says the source close to Anna. Not only did he embarrass the family by being “the biggest hypocrite ever,” he admitted in 2015, but when “Josh went away for Bible-based therapy for more than six months,” adds the source close to Anna, “that took a terrible toll on the kids.” Anna is not a greedy or materialistic person, explains the family insider, “but she does want her children to have everything she feels they deserve.” She’s also contemplating a move from Arkansas to Florida or Texas, where she has relatives, adds the family insider.
After Josh is forced to face the ramifications of his actions in court, Anna can start over. “The attorney has told Anna that she should have no problem getting millions, though she may not get a lump sum. It may be something that will be paid out over several years,” says the family insider. “Anna just wants what is best for her children and will follow whatever advice the attorney suggests.” She bears no ill will toward Jim Bob and Michelle at this point. “She is grateful for how they housed her when Josh went away to rehab,” says the family insider. “But she also has to protect her children’s future, and the only way she can do that is with a multimillion-dollar payout.” ◼