'Counting On' Fans Doubt Austin Forsyth & Joy Duggar's 'Courtship Story'

Wild fan theories suggest that Austin Forsyth wasn’t truly in love with Joy-Anna Duggar.

On Reddit, “Counting On” fans expressed their suspicions on Austin and Joy’s courtship story.

“I suspect that’s like a candy-coated version of the truth. Like maybe Joy always had a crush on Austin and he didn’t realize it..."

“According to them, Joy always had a huge crush on Austin. But nobody ever told Austin that. Just one day out of the blue Austin woke up and thought 'I'll marry Joy Anna Duggar.' This... sounds... fabricated. Or the action of an invisible man god in the sky I guess,” one fan wrote.

Another theorized: “I suspect that’s like a candy-coated version of the truth. Like maybe Joy always had a crush on Austin and he didn’t realize it (sometimes people are really daft about that- especially teenagers), but because she liked him she was always friendly to him and so she wasn’t really a background player to him, and then she got older and he realized ‘oh Joy’s really cute and nice...’ and then it all kind of came together from there.”

While some fans believe that all Duggar marriages were arranged and not completely borne out of love, others make exceptions for Jinger Duggar and Jeremy Vuolo.

COUPLE MET WHEN THEY WERE CHILDREN

Joy-Anna is the fifth daughter and the ninth of 19 children born to Jim Bob and Michelle Duggar.

She met Austin at a homeschooling conference as a child. Their courtship started in November 2016 and then became engaged four months later. They tied the knot on May 26, 2017.

They welcomed their first child, Gideon Martyn Forsyth, on February 23, 2018. Joy-Anna is currently pregnant with their second child, due in November 2019.

DOWNSIDE OF FAME

Members of the Duggar family often face controversy and criticism, just like any other reality stars. For instance, Jill Duggar came under fire for how her child looks.

After sharing a photo of herself and her two boys, some fans were quick to comment that she was being a neglectful mother because the boys looked “malnourished.”

“Mom-shaming” is quite common for celebrities, especially in an age of social media.

While Jill is no longer on TV, she continues to update her fans about her family through social media.