Josh Duggar opted of his first public appearance since his recent molestation scandal, E! News reports. The TLC "19 Kids and Counting" star was scheduled to appear at the ALIVE Christian Music Festival with sisters Jill Dillard and Jessa Seewald, but they went on without their older brother.
Jessa stitched together two photos, a selfie of herself with hubby Ben Seewald and a snap of Jill (holding two-month old son Israel) with hubby Derick Dillard. She posted it to her Instagram with the caption "Headed to the ALIVE Christian music festival with @ben_seewald, @jillmdillard @derickdillard & #IsraelDavidDillard! Awesome travel buddies!"
The sisters were scheduled to make an appearance with older brother Josh and his wife Anna. But the couple chose not to attend, a last-minute decision that was confirmed by an event manager, according to E! News. The decision comes amid allegations that Duggar molested young girls, including Jill and Jessa, when he was 15 years old.
Jill and Jessa's appearance at ALIVE was just weeks after the sisters' joint interview with Fox New's Megyn Kelly, when they came forward as two of Duggar's victims and publicly defended their brother.
"Well, I think in the case of what Josh did, it was very wrong," Jessa told Kelly. "I'm not going to justify anything that he did or say it was ok, not permissible, but I do want to speak up in his defense against people who are calling him a child molester or a pedophile or a rapist, some people are saying."
The girls are moving forward with or without their brother and chose not to address the scandal again during their Q&A session at the music festival on Saturday, People reports. Instead, they explained to fans that the message of "19 Kids and Counting" is that all families have their own struggles.
"Hey we're not a perfect family, we mess up," she told the crowd. "Imagine what life is like with a family with two or three kids and multiply that about 10 times over and that's what you get."
Check out part one of Jill and Jessa's Fox interview below.
