The Truth About John David And Abbie Duggar's Marriage

Feelings Drama

Transcript

00:00John David and Abbey Duggar may not be the most famous couple in the ever-expanding reality TV

00:06family, but they just might be the most likable. Their secret? It could have something to do with

00:11who paints whose nails. Although John David and Abbey Duggar knew each other for a long time,

00:17they didn't make a love connection until 2018 when John David's parents, Jim Bob and Michelle

00:23Duggar, were invited to speak at Abbey's church in Ada, Oklahoma, with John David flying in for

00:28the event. As they explained on Counting On, Abbey and John David chose to forgo some of

00:34the typical Duggar courtship rules in favor of establishing their own set of relationship

00:39guidelines. They decided that it was okay to take a more relaxed approach to courting due to their

00:44advanced ages, as 26 is practically ancient in the world of Duggar love and marriage.

00:50Don't be too scandalized, though. The couple maintained the family tradition of not kissing

00:55before their wedding ceremony. If you follow John David Duggar's journey to the altar,

01:00perhaps you got the impression that although he took courtship seriously,

01:05he wasn't interested in doing it forever. He made it pretty clear to Abbey Burnett that

01:09he wanted to skip straight to kissing the bride rather than drag their minimal touching courtship

01:14on for too long. Mere weeks after his courtship announcement, John David got down on one knee

01:19inside an airplane hangar and asked Abbey to marry him.

01:23Our relationship from the time we met to the time we were married was just a few days shy of six months.

01:29Although the two concepts may look similar to viewers of Counting On,

01:33John David and Abbey maintain that engagement is very different from courtship. John David explained

01:39in a TLC video,

01:40A courtship is more of a, I'm getting to know this person with the idea of the possibility of marriage.

01:46On the other hand, an engagement is more of a commitment towards getting married.

01:50For most Duggars, courting and getting engaged have the same end result.

01:55Most of the Duggar family's numerous courtships and marriages seem to happen at a breakneck pace.

02:00However, Abbey and John David got hitched even quicker than the other Duggar siblings,

02:05so why do they seem to have the best relationship of the bunch?

02:09Even comment boards dedicated to slamming the family find it hard to dislike John David and Abbey,

02:15saying that their relationship seems more authentic than those of some of the other siblings.

02:20The couple appears to be happy when the TLC cameras aren't rolling, too.

02:24A look at their Instagram page shows post after post featuring genuine smiles and fun family outings.

02:31Both John David and Abbey Duggar were raised in large,

02:35evangelical Christian families organized along strict traditional gender lines.

02:40We didn't watch Abbey and her siblings grow up on television like the Duggars did,

02:44but the now-defunct family blog Ten Burnettes gives us a pretty good idea of the kind of upbringing Abbey had.

02:50According to the blog, she and her seven siblings were homeschooled,

02:54so her mother seemingly avoided prospects of a career outside of the home to work as a full-time

02:59housewife, just like Michelle Duggar. While Abbey doesn't appear to be working outside of the home

03:04as of this video, she has something most of the other Duggar women don't — a degree,

03:09which is in nursing. She's even entertained the notion of someday returning to work.

03:14In 2019, she told Us Weekly that she plans to keep her nursing license,

03:19and that she and John David have discussed options about Abbey taking a job.

03:23Unlike his father, brothers, brothers-in-law, and even his sister Jana,

03:28John David Duggar's interests extend beyond real estate or contracting. The Duggar Family Fan blog

03:34reported in 2012 that John David had earned his pilot's license — a move that family members

03:39Jeremiah Duggar, Josiah Duggar, and Austin Forsyth have copied, according to the U.S. Sun.

03:45For years, John David has shuttled family members around in the fleet of small aircraft purchased by

03:50his father. After moving in with Abbey, John David was once again the sole pilot in the house — but not

03:56for long, according to the U.S. Sun. In August 2020, Abbey Duggar earned her student pilot certificate.

04:03The Duggars have gained fame for their enormous family. For matriarch Michelle Duggar,

04:09having children isn't just a hobby — it's a mandate. She and Jim Bob Duggar are followers of

04:14the Quiverful Movement, an evangelical Christian crusade popularized by churches such as the Institute

04:20for Basic Life Principles — an institute with which both the Duggar and Burnett families are involved.

04:26One of the basic goals of the Quiverful Movement is for its adherents to outpopulate those who

04:31don't share their religious views by having as many children as possible.

04:36Many of these fundamentalist, evangelical Christian families try as hard as possible

04:41to gain a platform or following outside of their immediate social circle in order to evangelize to

04:46others. So while Abbey didn't grow up in front of TLC's ever-present cameras,

04:51she was likely raised with an understanding that publicity isn't just the goal, it's the expectation.

04:58Over the years, we've learned that John David is less outspoken than some of his siblings,

05:03like his sister, the no-filter tomboy Joyanna. Instead, he has earned a reputation as a go-with-the-flow

05:10guy who gets along with pretty much all of his siblings, particularly twin Janna. Janna appears to

05:15return the sentiment, writing in an Instagram post that she, quote,

05:19"...couldn't have asked for a better twin to go through life with."

05:22Luckily for John David, there's no sister-in-law drama here. From the get-go,

05:27Abbey fit right in with John David's sisters, particularly Janna. Both Janna and Abbey are

05:33low-key older siblings who understand what it's like to be the last man standing. In a September 2020

05:39Counting On confessional, Abbey shared that she, too, was the oldest unmarried sibling in her family

05:44before meeting John David.

05:46"...I'm just super excited right now. It's so exciting, because, like, it's my turn. I'm the

05:52bride this time."

05:53Their friendship at least gives Janna the chance to get out of the house. After raising her siblings,

05:59babysitting one baby probably seems like a well-earned break.

06:03According to Duggar Data, John David and Abbey Duggar live in a single-wide trailer parked on

06:08land owned by Jim Bob and Michelle Duggar in Springdale, Arkansas. It's not clear exactly how

06:14much John David and Abbey are worth, but Celebrity Net Worth puts the number around $500,000.

06:20Even if their real worth is much lower than that, the couple has several sources of income,

06:25including proceeds from Counting On and John David's towing company, and they appear to be doing just fine.

06:32It helps that Abbey has learned how to cut John David's hair, which helps cut down on

06:36posh things like, you know, going out for haircuts.

06:39The couple's home is a stark difference from the living situations of some of the other Duggar

06:44children. Jill Duggar and her husband Derek Dillard, for example, own a four-bedroom Arkansas

06:50home, according to the Dillard Family Blog. And although they aren't homeowners, Ginger Duggar

06:55and her husband Jeremy Vuolo live in a Los Angeles residence worth around $700,000 per Radar.

07:03Fans of the Duggar family may have noticed that the idea of manliness appears to be

07:08important to members of the Klan. However, John David bucked the trend of adhering to

07:12predefined gender roles by adding something unexpected to his honey-do list — giving his

07:18wife a manicure. As he prepared to buff and polish Abbey Duggar's nails on Counting On,

07:23John David quipped,

07:24I'd rather be the one spending time with my wife versus paying someone else to spend time with her.

07:29It's a sweet gesture, and Abbey must not find John David's lacquer skills lacking since,

07:35according to him, she's put the fate of her cuticles in his hands many times.

07:40She's praised her husband on his skills and his continual improvement.

07:44He's even developed his own opinions about her manicures, saying,

07:48French tips are more romantic-looking.

07:50Abbey and John David Duggar saw their lives change forever in January 2020 when Abbey gave

07:56birth to daughter Grace Annette Duggar after a 36-hour labor. The birth came after a long and

08:02difficult pregnancy, during which Abbey suffered from hyperemesis gravidarum, which is a condition

08:08that causes debilitating nausea, and ended up in the emergency room, according to Us Weekly.

08:14Bucking the Duggar tradition of filming all of life's bloody, intimate moments,

08:18Abbey and John David kept TLC's cameras out of the delivery room. They still starred in a birth

08:24special, however, and they filmed their own footage at the hospital after Grace arrived.

08:29It feels great to now be a family of three. It's a big change,

08:34but it's a good change, and we're excited to go on adventures with our little girl now.

08:39Despite a tumultuous beginning to their life as parents, Abbey and John David seem to be enjoying

08:44the experience of raising just one child at a time. Their shared Instagram is jam-packed with photos

08:50of cozy family outings, including weekend air shows, trips to the beach, and berry-picking adventures.

08:57There's been no news of a second baby as of now. Perhaps there are enough nieces,

09:02nephews, and siblings between them to tamper down the baby fever.

09:06Unlike some of the other Duggar couples, Abbey and John David Duggar don't appear to be too

09:11concerned with their social media stats. In fact, according to Romper,

09:15John David didn't even have a public Instagram page before he began courting his future wife.

09:21His first was a joint account with Abbey, where the couple shares just a few pics a month of their

09:26extended family, air shows, and their daughter Grace. Compare that to the accounts of, say,

09:31Jessa or Ginger, who appear to have fully launched themselves into the influencer lifestyle,

09:37complete with promotional posts for smart vacuums and pillows. Abbey's frequent

09:42posts on her family's defunct Ten Burnett's blog shows us she's not afraid of sharing her life with

09:47the world. So, by avoiding social media, she and John David appear to be making a conscious effort

09:53to minimize their exposure to the public eye. Can't say we blame them. For a couple of shy homebodies,

09:59the constant expectation to share intimate details with the camera was probably more than enough.

10:04Abbey and John David Duggar's hesitancy to share more information about their home lives is

10:10particularly odd, considering that they both came from families known for publicizing their

10:15association with their religion. Both Abbey and John David grew up in the Institute for Basic Life

10:21Principles. Besides wanting their members to have as many children as possible, the extreme subsect of

10:26conservative evangelical Christianity has even more guidelines for its followers. An expose published

10:33by Chicago claims that IBLP adherents are encouraged to homeschool their children using a series of

10:39pamphlets produced by the church, in which every school subject is integrated with passages from the

10:45Bible and subjects are explained, quote, "...through the prism of male superiority and female obedience."

10:51For IBLP followers, women exist to serve the needs of men and children and are, quote,

10:56discouraged from attaining higher education of any kind. Some might find IBLP teachings rather

11:03questionable. According to the organization, Cabbage Patch Kids are symbols of evil,

11:08as are genes and the concept of a woman winking. The ultimate goal of the church is to evangelize,

11:14by integrating disgraced founder Bill Gothard's extremely conservative interpretation of the Bible

11:20into every aspect of public and private life. Despite their upbringing, Abbey and John David

11:27Duggar appear to be taking a less conservative approach to religion than Jim Bob and Michelle

11:32Duggar. For example, Abbey went to school to get a nursing degree and worked outside of the home before

11:37she was married — something that the IBLP discourages. Abbey also frequently wears pants,

11:44and unlike some of the other Duggar siblings, Abbey and John David don't seem to be in a rush to grow

11:49their little family. The couple has remained mostly silent amidst the news of TLC's cancellation of

11:55Counting On, and they left on a family trip to an air show shortly after the news broke. Perhaps

12:01they're relieved that the cameras will no longer be on them. While it doesn't seem like they're headed

12:05for a full-on rebellion against the IBLP, Abbey and John David appear to have a desire to negotiate

12:11their own relationship with their Christian faith. So as Grace Duggar grows up, fans will be watching to

12:17see just how much her upbringing differs from her parents. Check out one of our newest videos right

12:23here! Plus, even more Nicki Swift videos about your favorite reality TV couples are coming soon.

12:29Subscribe to our YouTube channel and hit the bell so you don't miss a single one.

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