Josh Duggar sued over using another man's photo for his Ashley Madison profile

The Christian reality-TV star steps into another pile of hypocrisy

Published September 11, 2017 6:04PM (EDT)

Josh Duggar   (AP/Danny Johnston)
Josh Duggar (AP/Danny Johnston)

Josh Duggar, the disgraced Christian reality TV star and former executive director of the Family Research Council, a Washington-based lobbying group that "seeks to advance faith, family, and freedom in public policy, is being sued by Los Angles-based D.J. Matthew McCarthy, who claims Duggar used his image to solicit sex online.

McCarthy is seeking undisclosed damages, according to People for Duggar's wrongful use of his photo on his Ashley Madison profile, a website that facilitates extramarital affairs. McCarthy says he's lost work and was harassed because of it. He also cites a long list of residual effects: “prolonged pain and suffering, anxiety, depression, embarrassment, humiliation, loss of self-esteem and extreme and severe mental anguish and emotional distress including but not limited to frequent panic attacks, disruption of sleep and insomnia, mood changes, fits of anger, a loss of interest in pursuing both professional and personal endeavors, and a complete loss of self-confidence," the file claims.

Duggar is no stranger to controversy. The "19 Kids and Counting" star was publicly discredited in 2015, when the news broke that he molested five underage girls when he was a teen. Four of the girls were his sisters, his parents confirmed, two of whom spoke publicly with Megyn Kelly about the abuse.

Duggar later admitted that he had a pornography addiction and was unfaithful to his wife, after Ashley Madison was hacked and it was revealed that Duggar paid a total of nearly $1,000 for subscriptions to the sex website.

Also in 2015, Duggar was sued by porn star and model Danica Dillon, who accused him of sexual assault. Dillon claimed that he propositioned her for consensual sex, but said she was "assaulted to the point of causing her physical and emotional injuries," and she "felt as if she were being raped."

Duggar and his wife Anna are expecting their fifth child.

 


By Rachel Leah

MORE FROM Rachel Leah