Georgia Mom’s Open Letter About Anna Duggar Goes Viral on Facebook: Raise Your Girls to “Breathe Fire”

Anna Duggar and Josh Duggar
A Georgia mom's letter about Anna Duggar went viral on Facebook this week, after Jessica Kirkland pleaded with parents to raise their daughters to "breathe fire" rather than raising them to have "no education and no work experience to fall back on" Kris Connor/Getty Images

Listen up, parents. A Georgia mom's open letter about Anna Duggar has gone viral on Facebook, in the wake of Josh Duggar's cheating confession after his accounts were discovered as part of Ashley Madison's subscription leaks last week.

The author, suburban Atlanta mom Jessica Kirkland, pleaded with parents in her post to raise their daughters to have self-respect amidst the news that Anna Duggar is remaining by her husband's side despite his recent mega scandals.

"I know everybody is laughing about this Josh Duggar story. Oh, a DUGGAR on Ashley Madison, it's so rich!" Kirkland wrote on Aug. 20, the day Josh confessed to cheating in a statement posted to his family's website. "I wish more people would talk about Anna. I normally keep things light on Facebook, but let's talk about Anna. Let me tell you: Anna Duggar is in the worst position she could possibly be in right now. Anna Duggar was crippled by her parents by receiving no education, having no work experience (or life experience, for that matter) and then was shackled to this loser because his family was famous in their religious circle. Anna Duggar was taught that her sole purpose in life, the most meaningful thing she could do, was to be chaste and proper, a devout wife, and a mother. Anna Duggar did that! Anna Duggar followed the rules that were imposed on her from the get-go and this is what she got in reward- a husband who she found out, in the span of 6 months, not only molested his own sisters, but was unfaithful to her in the most humiliating way possible. While she was fulfilling her 'duty' of providing him with four children and raising them. She lived up to the standard that men set for her of being chaste and Godly and in return, the man who demanded this of her sought women who were the opposite. 'Be this,' they told her. She was. It wasn't enough."

The Southern mom attempted to empathize with the reality star mom of four. "What is Anna Duggar supposed to do? She can't divorce because the religious environment she was brought up would blame her and ostracize her for it," Kirkland wrote of Anna's predicament. "Even if she would risk that, she has no education and no work experience to fall back on, so how does she support her kids? From where could she summon the ability to turn her back on everything she ever held to be sacred and safe? Her beliefs, the very thing she would turn to for comfort in this kind of crisis, are the VERY REASON she is in this predicament in the first place. How can she reconcile this? Her parents have utterly, utterly failed her. Think of this: somewhere, Anna Duggar is sitting in prayer, praying not for the strength to get out and stand on her own, but for the strength to stand by this man she is unfortunately married to. To lower herself so that he may rise up on her back."

Indeed, one of Anna's brothers reiterated that his sister felt responsible to remain by her husband's side amid the scandal. In a response to Jessa Duggar's Facebook post from Sunday, the sibling, Daniel Keller, revealed Anna's current predicament and said he's made attempts to extract her from the situation.

"I have been thinking of her and sick to my stomach for her for last few days," he shared in one comment. "I have told her I would pay for her to move out here w me and pay for her kidz. I don't think josh will see that this is a big deal and be truly broken till that happens. I beat my life on the fact that josh has not co.e to true brokenness yet."

In fact, Keller said his own parents have allegedly encouraged Anna, 27, to stay by Josh's side as the cheating scandal continues to play out. "Oh I know. But my parents are preaching stay w him," Keller wrote. "There more interested in how there daughter getting a divorce will make then look then they are in trying to truly get josh some help and getting Anna and the kids out of there till he has gotten that help."

Kirkland, meanwhile, noted reasons why Anna's scenario pains her personally. She added to local news outlet 11Alive on Tuesday, Aug. 24, that her heart went out to the mom of four. "I just couldn't stop thinking about Anna," Kirkland shared, as evidenced in her Facebook conclusion.

"As a mother of daughters, [Anna's situation] makes me ill. Parents, WE MUST DO BETTER BY OUR DAUGHTERS," Kirkland wrote last week. "Boys, men, are born with power. Girls have to command it for themselves. They aren't given it. They assume it and take it. But you have to teach them to do it, that they can do it. We HAVE to teach our daughters that they are not beholden to men like this. That they don't have to marry a man their father deems 'acceptable' and then stay married to that man long, long after he proved himself UNACCEPTABLE. Educate them. Empower them. Give them the tools they need to survive, on their own if they must. Josh Duggar should be cowering in fear of Anna Duggar right now. Cowering. He isn't, but he should be. He should be quaking in fear that the house might fall down around them if he's in the same room as she. Please, instill your daughters with the resolve to make a man cower if he must. To say "I don't deserve this, and my children don't deserve this." I wish someone had ever, just once, told Anna she was capable of this. That she knew she is. As for my girls, I'll raise them to think they breathe fire."

The post has since been shared over 230,000 times.

Following Josh's confession last week, neither he nor his wife has updated their social media accounts. In his statement, Josh apologized directly to his family. "I brought hurt and a reproach to my family, close friends and the fans of our show with my actions that happened when I was 14-15 years old, and now I have re-broken their trust," he said last week, alluding to his molestation scandal. "I humbly ask for your forgiveness. Please pray for my precious wife Anna and our family during this time."
