Following her exclusive interview with Jim Bob and Michelle Duggar on Wednesday, June 3, host Megyn Kelly sat down with Jill and Jessa Duggar, two of Josh Duggar's victims, to get their side on their brother's actions when he was a young teenager and how they're coping with it right now. Josh, 27, admitted that he inappropriately touched five young girls — four of them his sisters and one unnamed babysitter — more than 12 years ago.
Before "The Kelly File" aired on Friday, Kelly spoke to Extra and revealed that the conversation became emotional as Jill and Jessa started talking about their brother. The Fox News anchor explained that the mood was initially relaxed when she sat down with the "19 Kids and Counting" stars.
"They started off as your normal 22, 24 year old girls, a little bubbly, a little giggly, and then when we did get into it, the tears started to flow. Imagine how painful that would be," she told Extra.
Kelly said the family never chose to put this piece of their family's story out in public and that they are struggling with what people are assuming about their family and what happened to them.
On the subject of forgiveness, Kelly said that Josh has been forgiven by the whole family, saying, "They told me that. They also talked about the journey from the pain to forgiveness, and it was not without some bumps in the road."
Kelly revealed that all of the Duggar children and not just the victims went through licensed therapist counseling to get them through what happened.
For the journalist, the ultimate goal is to talk to Josh himself, in the hope of helping the public understand more about the complicated situation.
"Of course I would love to talk to Josh. He's really the best one to talk about what happened and why, and where he is today," she said.
Kelly's exclusive interview with Jim Bob and Michelle on Wednesday evening brought in 3.1 million total viewers, making it her most watched program of the year. Wednesday's edition of "The Kelly File" became the number one show on all of cable news that day.
