Amy Duggar King lived her life on reality TV for nearly a decade, but as readers of her new memoir will learn, there’s more to her story than meets the eye.
In an exclusive interview with Us Weekly, Amy, 38, opened up about the inspiration behind her upcoming book, Holy Disruptor: Shattering the Shiny Facade by Getting Louder With the Truth.
“I was asked to write a book right after the Josh [Duggar] scandal, and I knew that I had to heal. I knew I had some things that I really needed to dive deep in, just in order to be more whole, and I had trust issues. I had a lot of anger. I had some things I needed to really straighten out,” said Amy, the niece of Jim Bob and Michelle Duggar, whose family rose to fame on TLC’s 19 Kids and Counting and Counting On.
Before she began writing, Amy “did the work and educated myself” on topics such as narcissistic abuse and other traumas. “I was like, ‘Oh, my gosh, I could help someone else,’” she told Us. “And that’s really where it came from, is just the desire to share my story. I hope that it feels like a hug for someone else, that they’re not alone, because I felt so alone, you know, going through everything.”
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Known to viewers as “Crazy Cousin Amy” — a nickname she pushed back against during production of her family’s shows — Amy has spent plenty of time in the spotlight. Though some fans may think they’ve seen the whole picture, Amy said her book is still full of surprises.
“I honestly think their jaw[s] will drop from, like, page one all the way until the end. I really take readers on a journey. I didn’t want to just share one story. … This is my chance to, like, lay it all on the line and really tell the whole story and the whole truth and connect the dots,” she explained.
19 Kids and Counting aired for 10 seasons from 2008 to 2015, showcasing the lives of Jim Bob, now 60, Michelle, now 59, and their children, who followed a fundamentalist conservative lifestyle under the rules of the Institute in Basic Life Principles (IBLP). Amy’s cousins followed strict guidelines — girls were not permitted to wear pants and secular music and television were not allowed — but Amy wasn’t raised with the same restrictive beliefs, providing a stark contrast on screen.
The Duggar family fell even further under the microscope in 2015 after it was revealed that Josh, now 37, had molested five girls — some of whom were his own sisters — when he was between the ages of 14 and 15. Also in 2015, Josh admitted he was unfaithful to wife Anna Duggar following the Ashley Madison data breach. TLC canceled 19 Kids and Counting that year, but some Duggars returned for the spinoff, Counting On.
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The scandals didn’t stop there. Counting On ran from 2015 to 2021, when the network officially cut ties with the Duggar family in the wake of Josh’s arrest for receiving and possessing child pornography. He was sentenced to more than 12 years in prison, which he has tried to appeal multiple times. (Josh and Anna, 37, are still married and share seven children.)
Throughout the family drama, Amy has been an outspoken advocate for believing Josh’s alleged victims. While Amy is largely estranged from most of her cousins — “I tried to reach out to Anna, when all of that was going on,” she told Us, noting she “never heard back” — the former reality star had no malicious intent in writing her book. In fact, she included a supportive “sidenote” to her family in one of the chapters.
“I just don’t know what they’ve been taught or what they’ve been told, you know?” Amy told Us of why the message was an important part of the process. “One minute I’m at their house, [and] next minute, I’m not, and, like, I’m not coming back. So I think I just want to make sure that what they’re being told and being fed is the truth. … I’m extending that arm of just saying, ‘You don’t have to be alone in this.’”
Josh’s scandals aren’t the only challenging topic Amy tackles in her memoir. She delves even deeper into her family history, revealing her mother, Deanna, suffered abuse from both her father and ex-husband. When asked whether she thinks her cousins were aware of their grandfather’s behavior, Amy told Us, “More than likely no.”
“I’m really hoping that they get a chance to read my book, or they pick it up at Walmart when you know they’re by themselves or something, and they’re like, ‘What is this?’ And they actually get the truth,” she continued. “Because, like I said, a lot of things have slipped underneath the rug in my family, and not a lot has come out. … There’s more to the story.”
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As for the possibility of repairing her relationships with her extended family, Amy reminded Us what goes on behind closed doors isn’t always “black and white.”
“There’s a lot of love, a lot of laughter and a lot of hard moments, and so … hopefully they know that my heart’s in the right spot,” she added.
She didn’t, however, give her relatives a heads-up about what they might read. “Here’s the thing. I believe that if you’re going to show your character and if you’re going to lie … I mean, then the truth is going to come out,” she told Us. “And so for me, I don’t really feel like I need to give anyone else a heads-up. You know, it’s been years since I’ve spoken to them, and I’ve healed in all kinds of ways. And it’s not out of rebellion.”
Amy — who shares 5-year-old son Daxton with husband Dillon King — acknowledged that the title Holy Disrupter “sounds so rebellious,” but she simply wanted to send a message. “It really is just [about] disrupting things that don’t work, like toxic cycles and condescending tones and narcissistic abuse and emotional and financial [control] and all the things — those don’t work,” she said. “You can’t continue on that path and so, I mean, hopefully [my family will] hear about it.”
Holy Disruptor: Shattering the Shiny Facade by Getting Louder With the Truth is available October 14.
