Less than three months after it was revealed that Josh Duggar once molested five underage girls, the former "19 Kids and Counting" star has confessed to struggling with a pornography addiction and cheating on his wife, Anna, amid reports he had active accounts on Ashley Madison, a website created to facilitate adulterous affairs.
Josh, 27, and his parents, Jim Bob and Michelle Duggar made the startling revelation Thursday on the Duggar family website.
Jim Bob and Michelle wrote, "When we learned of this late last night our hearts were broken. As we continue to place our trust in God we ask for your prayers for Josh, Anna, our grandchildren and our entire family."
In turn, Josh, who married Anna in 2008, wrote: "I have been the biggest hypocrite ever. While espousing faith and family values, I have secretly over the last several years been viewing pornography on the internet and this became a secret addiction and I became unfaithful to my wife."
The father-of-four continued, "I am so ashamed of the double life that I have been living and am grieved for the hurt, pain and disgrace my sin has caused my wife and family, and most of all Jesus and all those who profess faith in Him.
I brought hurt and a reproach to my family, close friends and the fans of our show with my actions that happened when I was 14-15 years old, and now I have re-broken their trust."
According to a report from Gawker published Wednesday, Josh was among the 37 million Ashley Madison users whose private information was leaked on Tuesday by a hacking group known as the "Impact Team."
The blog reveals that "someone using a credit card belonging to a Joshua J. Duggar, with a billing address that matches the home in Fayetteville, Arkansas owned by his grandmother Mary...paid a total of $986.76 for two different monthly Ashley Madison subscriptions."
The subscriptions appear to have been active from February 2013 until May 2015, during a time when Jim Bob and Michelle's oldest son served as executive director of the Family Research Council, a conservative lobbying group in Washington D.C. that seeks "to champion marriage and family as the foundation of civilization, the seedbed of virtue, and the wellspring of society."
In continuing his statement, Josh wrote, "The last few years, while publicly stating I was fighting against immorality in our country, I was hiding my own personal failings.
As I am learning the hard way, we have the freedom to choose to our actions, but we do not get to choose our consequences. I deeply regret all hurt I have caused so many by being such a bad example.
I humbly ask for your forgiveness. Please pray for my precious wife Anna and our family during this time."
This news comes as a blow to the Duggar family, who are still struggling to move on from Josh's childhood molestation scandal, which came to light in May of this year.
At the time, Josh apologized for his "wrongdoing" which was documented in a 2006 police report revealing that he molested five underage girls as a teen, including two of his sisters, Jill and Jessa.
"I understood that if I continued down this wrong road that I would end up ruining my life," Josh wrote of how he had changed over the years, adding that he continues to live with regret. "I sought forgiveness from those I had wronged and asked Christ to forgive me and come into my life. I would do anything to go back to those teen years and take different actions."
Anna, who recently gave birth to their fourth child, also released a statement at the time, writing, "[I know] who Josh really is - someone who had gone down a wrong path and had humbled himself before God and those whom he had offended...Someone who had received the help needed to change the direction of his life and do what is right."
In light of Josh's initial scandal, TLC cancelled the Duggar's hit show 19 Kids and Counting, but said it would continue working with the Duggar family on an upcoming documentary about child sexual abuse.
However, a source who has worked with the family told People Magazine that the latest allegations will cement the network's decision to permanently end their relationship with the Duggars.
"It was pretty improbable that there were going to be any specials on any of the Duggars anyway," the source said. "But now, with this, there's virtually no chance. It's basically just over now."
