It proves how lucrative "19 Kids and Counting" was for the Duggar family. It shows why they were so anxious to get the "Counting On" reality television gig after Josh Duggar's pedophilia, pornography, and adultery scandal. That show has since been pulled over CSA charges. Jinger Vuolo's multi-million dollar assets demonstrate why Josh and now brother Joseph Duggar, another Duggar son caught in child sexual assault are so eager to remain in the public eye.
According to a memoir by Jill Duggar Dillard "Counting the Cost", the Duggar family company (Mad Family Inc.) was paid approximately $50,000 to $73,000 per episode by TLC for 19 Kids and Counting and Counting On. Jim Bob Duggar controlled the money, totaling roughly $8 million over several years, with individual adult children reportedly receiving no direct payment for years.
Contracts showed payments of $50,000 for half-hour episodes and $65,000 for hour-long episodes, increasing to $58,000/$73,000 after four seasons. Jill estimates that Jim Bob was paid a total of $8 million between 2014 and 2018. And she and her siblings never say a dime, even when being "forced" onto the show when they were married. Jill received $175,000 for years of work only after hiring a lawyer).
Now I don't defend Big Daddy Duggar keeping all the proceeds or shackling his kids to a reality TV contract. He's nothing more than a mob boss if you ask me. Of course his "19 Kids and Counting" deserve payment. They are the reason he got the contract in the first place. They were actors and under the Jackie Coogan law, are entitled to their own earnings. And seriously what kind of "good Christian" dad doesn't at least put their earnings into a trust fund?
And I certainly don't defend the sheltering of pedophilia. For that alone they deserve compensation. Because no it won't erase the shame. But it will hopefully give them the means to get out of that sick Duggar cult. And they do deserve it.
I'm just having a little trouble being sympathetic to the financial woes of any of the kids who are still living off the show with their books and podcasts. Get real jobs and then you'll see what real financial woes are. But then, I get it. There's money to be made in tell-all exposes on your parents. Might as well get their piece of the pie one way or another. Where I draw the line is juxtaposing crass materialism with a Godly "simple life." Pick a lane.
Posts
