{"id":2195578,"date":"2025-12-11T22:03:28","date_gmt":"2025-12-11T22:03:28","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/?p=2195578"},"modified":"2025-12-11T22:03:28","modified_gmt":"2025-12-11T22:03:28","slug":"amy-duggar-says-cousin-relationships-were-surface-level-growing-up","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/amy-duggar-says-cousin-relationships-were-surface-level-growing-up\/","title":{"rendered":"Amy Duggar Says Cousin Relationships Were ‘Surface Level’ Growing Up"},"content":{"rendered":"

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Amy King<\/strong><\/a> (n\u00e9e Duggar) is opening up about what it was really like to grow up as a cousin of the Duggar siblings.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe would spend so much time together. We had tons of trips, all the stuff, but it was more surface-level. It wasn\u2019t really heartfelt,\u201d Amy, 39, said during her Wednesday, December 10, appearance on Matt<\/strong> and Abby Howard<\/strong>\u2019s \u201cUnplanned<\/a>\u201d podcast.<\/p>\n

Amy continued, \u201cWe never really talked about the things we were struggling with or what God was doing in our life or whatever it would be. It just wasn\u2019t ever talked about. It was more of just like what [the Duggar family\u2019s show 19 Kids and Counting<\/em>] was doing and just how\u2019s the weather and \u2018I like your skirt\u2019 and that kind of stuff.\u201d<\/p>\n

Amy said that she believed this may have been a result of her cousins following the teachings of the Institute in Basic Life Principles (IBLP), which her own family did not follow. (The IBLP is a nondenominational Christian fundamentalist organization that was established by former leader Bill Gothard<\/strong> in 1961. The ministry follows several strict rules, including dressing modestly, courting under supervision, abstaining from alcohol consumption and more.)<\/p>\n

\u201cThey teach, like, if you\u2019re not in that circle, they keep you at arm\u2019s reach,\u201d Amy\u2019s husband, Dillon King<\/strong>, claimed on the podcast.<\/p>\n

Amy is the only child of Terry Jordan<\/strong> and Deanna Duggar<\/strong>, the latter of whom is Jim Bob Duggar<\/strong>\u2019s sister. Jim Bob, 60, and wife Michelle Duggar<\/strong> share kids Josh<\/strong>, 37, twins John-David<\/strong> and Jana<\/strong>, 35, Jill<\/strong>, 33, Jessa<\/strong>, 32, Jinger<\/strong>, 31, Joseph<\/strong>, 30, Josiah<\/strong>, 28, Joy-Anna<\/strong>, 27, twins Jedidiah<\/strong> and Jeremiah<\/strong>, 26, Jason<\/strong>, 25, James<\/strong>, 23, Justin<\/strong>, 22, Jackson<\/strong>, 20, Johannah<\/strong>, 19, Jennifer<\/strong>, 17, Jordyn-Grace<\/strong>, 16, and Josie<\/strong>, 15.<\/p>\n

Keep scrolling to see what else Amy said about her relationship with her cousins:<\/p>\n

Amy Duggar Says She Was Sometimes Asked to Wear Skirts to Her Cousins\u2019 House<\/h2>\n

Amy claimed that although she often wore jeans to her cousins\u2019 house, she was sometimes asked to wear skirts in order to comply with their modesty standards.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ve tried on pantaloons before. I\u2019ve tried on one of their swimsuits,\u201d she said. \u201cJust to, like, appease my family and to show that I do respect their values and their rules.\u201d<\/p>\n

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Amazon \/ Courtesy Everett Collection<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Amy Duggar Shares Husband Dillon King\u2019s Awkward 1st Encounter With Her Family<\/h2>\n

Amy also recalled Dillon\u2019s first encounter with her cousins and how awkward it was because he didn\u2019t know about the family\u2019s rules.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe were at this, like, rock and bowl place. It was like glow bowling. \u2026 All my cousins were bowling, and they don\u2019t dance, right? They do not,\u201d Amy explained, referring to another IBLP rule. \u201cSo, when he first met them, he walked in, and there was some music playing, whatever, and \u2026 he walked in and he was like, dancing and just cracking up.\u201d<\/p>\n

Amy claimed that her family looked at Dillon and slowly turned away from him. Dillon, meanwhile, had no idea what he had done wrong.<\/p>\n

\u201cI was ignorant. I had no idea,\u201d Dillon joked.<\/p>\n

Amy Duggar Gushes About \u2018Cousinship\u2019 With Jill Duggar<\/h2>\n

Over the years, Amy has grown closer to Jill, with whom she starred in season 1 of Prime Video\u2019s Shiny Happy People<\/em> docuseries about the Duggar family\u2019s controversies.<\/p>\n

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\n Related: <\/span>Inside Amy Duggar’s Estranged Relationship With Her Family and Cousins<\/span><\/a>
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\n\t\t\tAmy Duggar earned a reputation as the rebellious cousin throughout her extended family\u2019s tenure on 19 Kids and Counting and Counting On. Amy is the only child of Terry Jordan and Deanna Duggar, whose brother, Jim Bob Duggar, shares 19 children with wife Michelle Duggar. When the former politician and Michelle\u2019s first reality series debuted [\u2026]\t\t<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\u201cCousinship is so much fun. Like, we can joke around and laugh and we have inside jokes,\u201d Amy said of what she\u2019s learned from her relationship with Jill. \u201cAnd just to know that, like, our [5-year-old son Daxton] is safe in their presence and that their [sons Israel, 9, Samuel, 7, and Frederick, 2] have spent the night with us. And like, we take care of them and love them and know what they like and the hobbies they have and all of that. It\u2019s such a different way of living compared to really what we had growing up.\u201d<\/p>\n

Amy added that it was like having a \u201ctrue family.\u201d<\/p>\n

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