In her new memoir, Amy Duggar King opened up about the abuse her mother, Deanna, allegedly experienced at the hands of her own father.
“Grandpa Duggar was a complicated man. … He was off- the-wall, unpredictable, reckless, and practically a real-life Kramer from Seinfeld,” Amy, 39, wrote in her book, Holy Disruptor: Shattering the Shiny Facade by Getting Louder With the Truth, published Tuesday, October 14.
Though Amy’s grandfather Jimmy Lee was “hilarious,” she admitted he was also “possibly a little insane.” She revealed that she and her cousins — the 19 children of Jim Bob and Michelle Duggar — learned “to be very cautious around” their grandfather, who had a “darker side.”
According to Amy, Jimmy Lee had a “traumatic” childhood and an alcoholic father who “often [used] his son as a punching bag.” As an adult, Jimmy Lee demonstrated a similar temper. Deanna, 63, and her brother were raised with “corporal punishment,” as Amy noted, “There was little distinction between discipline and cruelty, and the line was often crossed.”
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Amy described two incidents in particular that crossed far over the line, one of which occurred when Deanna returned home from college. Deanna allegedly saw her dad “yelling violently” at her mom and attempted to go into another room — to no avail.
“With a leather belt in his hand and the most haunting, crazed look in his eyes, he grabbed her by the legs, held her down on the bed, and began beating her, every hit harder than the last. … This brutal torture lasted for more than an hour,” Amy claimed, adding that Deanna was left “black and blue and beaten to a bloody pulp.”
She continued, “One thing that has always stood out to me when my mom tells this story is that throughout the entire horrifying event … her mother never came to help.”
Later, when Deanna was 21, Jimmy Lee allegedly “went ballistic” after learning she wanted to move in with her then-boyfriend — and things could have taken a very serious turn.
“He grabbed her by the throat, carried her from the kitchen to his bed, and jumped on top of her. He wrapped his hands around her neck, lay on top of her so she was unable to move, and started strangling her. … He almost succeeded in murdering my mother,” Amy claimed.
This time, Deanna’s mother did call for help, and Jim Bob was able to stop the horrific attack. “Jim Bob might not have known it at the time, but he saved her life that day,” Amy wrote.
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While the physical abuse allegedly stopped after that day, Deanna still experienced “bickering and name-calling.” Deanna eventually warned her own daughter to “never be alone with Grandpa” — but it took years for Amy to learn why.
“The reason I was not allowed to be alone with my grandpa was because he was a predator!” Amy wrote. “Underneath JL’s charming and funny personality was a true monster.”
Throughout her book, Amy interrogates the cycles of trauma and abuse that have affected her extended family, including cousin Josh Duggar, who is currently in prison following his 2021 arrest for receiving and possessing child pornography. During an exclusive interview with Us Weekly ahead of Holy Disruptor’s release, Amy hinted her cousins “more than likely” don’t know about their grandfather’s behavior.
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“A lot of things have been slipped underneath the rug in my family … but there’s more to the story,” Amy told Us last month.
As for how Deanna felt about her experiences being shared in her daughter’s book, Amy revealed “she kind of pushed back” at first.
“And then I think she thought about it and was like, ‘You know what? Actually, by talking about it, it takes away its power,’ and it’s OK to say the truth and what’s happened,” Amy explained. “And, you know, there’s generational curses that we’ve broken now in my family. … We talk about it, we heal from it, we move on, and we help someone else. And that’s the beauty of it.”
Holy Disruptor: Shattering the Shiny Facade by Getting Louder With the Truth is available now.
If you or someone you know is experiencing domestic violence, please call the National Domestic Violence Hotline at 1-800-799-7233 for confidential support.
