Josh Duggar accused his parents,Jim Bob and Michelle Duggar, of putting public image ahead of family in a series of furious text messages sent from federal prison shortly after he was sentenced in the United States in 2022 for receiving and possessing child sexual abuse material.

In texts obtained by People, Josh Duggar told his mother that both she and Jim Bob needed to accept responsibility for what he called their role in his 'fall from grace.'

Writing from prison a little over a week after sentencing, he complained: '[I] am very disappointed. I feel like you just don't receive criticism or take admission for your own actions THAT HAVE DIRECTLY AFFECTED MY LIFE, including in this situation.'

He went further, insisting that he was the one being unfairly targeted inside the family: 'I AM NOT BLAMING YOUR FOR THE SITUATION, BUT YOU ARE BLAMING ME — AND YOU DON'T EVEN KNOW THE TRUTH — YOU SAID THAT YOURSELF TODAY.'

Josh repeatedly claimed in those messages that another man who worked at the used car dealership with him had downloaded the CSAM (Child Sexual Abuse Material) onto his computer. That allegation has not been accepted by the court, and there is no indication in the material cited that prosecutors or investigators consider it credible.

In a later text, he told Michelle: 'I just think you don't get it. you don't understand how you have hurt me and you keep trying to make yourselves "look good" instead of trying to be concerned about your responses to my charges or anything else in my life.'

Josh Duggar's complaints were not only about his conviction. He also attacked what he saw as the way the wider Duggar brand and the now‑cancelled TLC empire had been protected at his expense.

Three months before the sentencing text, he wrote to his mother about how hard it was to sit in prison while the rest of his enormous family carried on: 'out going and doing.' He added: '[T]he public statements and pr work to save shows and public images i feel were placed above family relationships ... and still are to this day.'

At one point, he said Michelle seemed to worry 'about pr more than anything else sometimes.'

He insisted he was 'not trying to shift blame for anything', yet in the same breath asked his mother to 'consider your role and change so that other children are not in the same situations later.'

Source: International Business Times UK