'Shiny Happy People' reveals just how fame hungry Jim Bob and Michelle Duggar were

Oh, how the mighty have fallen. The Duggar family, best known for their TLC reality series '19 Kids and Counting', used to be a reference for many families. After all, they had 19 well-behaved children who all pitched in around the home, and everyone just seemed so happy.

Sure, the family had their quirks, but many adored this seemingly loving "perfect" family. However, in recent years that image has been tarnished, in particular by a variety of scandals related to the eldest Duggar son Josh.

Amazon Prime's docuseries titled, 'Shiny Happy People: Duggar Family Secrets' has really pulled back the curtains on the inner workings of the family, and what viewers learned was nothing short of shocking.

The revelations made in 'Shiny Happy People: Duggar Family Secrets' are shocking and there are many, far too many to discuss in just one gallery.

However, one thing that is clear is that Michelle and Jim Bob Duggar are anything but stellar parents and they were willing to hide abuse to get rich and famous.

Click on to read about the most revealing and devastating revelations about Jim Bob and Michelle's handling of Josh Duggar's abuse of his sisters.

Nearly everyone knows that Josh Duggar and his parents, Jim Bob and Michelle Duggar, got into major trouble when several years ago, it was revealed by an article in 'In Touch' that Josh had "inappropriately touched" his minor sisters when he was a teen.

However, many viewers did not realize just how young Josh was when he began his deviant behaviour. In 'Shiny Happy People, ' Jim and Bobye Holt, former close friends of Jim Bob and Michelle Duggar, speak out about just how troubled Josh was.

Photo: Screenshot, 'Shiny Happy People' Prime Video

The pair, whose daughter Kaeleigh Holt was courting Josh when he was 15 years old, were informed by Jim Bob at the time that Josh was in trouble because he had "touched his sisters inappropriately."

Photo: Screenshot, TLC, YouTube

Jim Bob also told the Holts that this "inappropriate touching" was something that Josh had begun doing when he was just 12 years old and continued to do so until he was 15.

Photo: Tlc

Now if most parents were to find out that their eldest son had been abusing his younger sisters since the age of 12, the immediate reaction would most likely be, "Oh my, I need to get my son some PROFESSIONAL help, both to help him and to protect his sisters."

Photo: Instagram@duggarfam

However, being immersed in Bill Gothard's IBLP cult kool-aid seems to have affected Jim Bob and Michelle Duggar's reasoning skills.

Photo: TLC

In 'Shiny Happy People: Duggar Family Secrets' long time former family friend Bobye Hold revealed that while Jim Bob Duggar was worried about the situation and what should be done with Josh after he confessed to touching his underage sisters, sending his son to some kind of therapy was out of the question.

Instead, Bobye Holt said that Jim Bob told her and her husband Jim Holt that he and Michelle thought it would be best to "get him (Josh) out of the house", and they decided to send him to Bill Gothard's centre for "troubled boys" in Little Rock, Arkansas.

Photo: Bill Gothard / Wikimedia commons

Many who grew up in the Institute of Basic Life Principles have claimed on internet forums and in interviews on the subject that this facility for troubled boys was nothing more than a work camp.

Pictured, one of the program currently offered to help young men mature by IBLP.

The teens did not receive any therapy but instead prayed and worked gruelling hours for free building buildings and structures in basically slave labour conditions to help Bill Gothard expand his empire.

To make the whole Josh situation even worse, Amy King (nee Duggar) shared the great length that Jim Bob and Michelle Duggar were willing to go to to protect the family's shiny image during the time they were dealing with Josh's issues.

Unsurprisingly, the Duggar's kept the problems Josh had an absolute secret. Amy King said in 'Shiny Happy People' that while Josh was away when she asked where he was, her aunt and uncle simply said, "Oh, he is helping families build homes." However, Amy said she instantly "knew something was off."

Photo: Screenshot, 'Shiny Happy People' Prime Video

The real kicker that shows just how fame-hungry Josh's parents were was revealed in the docuseries. 'Shiny Happy People' reveals that while Josh was away at the centre for troubled boys, the family was presented with an opportunity to do a photo shoot and bio on the mega-sized family with the well-known magazine called Parents.

Naturally, the magazine editors wanted all the kids there, so Jim Bob and Michelle decided to bring Josh back early from his work camp.

Photo: Screenshot '14 Kids and Pregnant Again'

So not only did Josh's parents fail him by not sending him to proper therapy, they didn't even let him finish the IBLP-approved "therapy" he was attending.

Photo: TLC

All in the hopes of presenting the perfect facade of a family to Parents magazine, a photo shoot and interview that led to the family getting their own reality television show and the big bucks.