The Duggars have lost an awful lot of fans over the course of the past year — and for good reason.
When Josh Duggar was convicted on child pornography charges back in December of 2021, even diehards who had stuck by the family through numerous scandals felt that they could no longer support TV’s most infamous fundamentalists.
But despite all the horrors that have been revealed about her father and brother over the course of the past year, Jinger Duggar has retained a surprisingly high level of popularity.
She still enjoys a massive following of 1.4 million on Instagram, and fans delight at her updates on her life as a wife, mother, author, and resident of Los Angeles.
Of course, it’s impossible to live so publicly without attracting a good amount of negative attention, as well.
Jinger doesn’t receive nearly as much abuse from strangers as the other members of her family.
In her case, the negativity tends to come in the form of “concern trolling” — comments from people who justify their criticism by pretending that they’re worried about Jinger’s health and well-being.
In recent weeks, Jinger’s followers have been focusing on her weight.
Usually, this particularly ugly form of criticism involves commenters berating celebrities for being too heavy.
In Jinger’s case, however, most of the commentary has to do with claims that she’s unhealthily thin.
“She looks so frail and pale compared to some pictures from this time last year,” one commenter observed, according to UK tabloid The Sun.
“I know having two young children and a childish husband will drain you, but I hope this poor girl is getting a break somewhere.”
“She looks scary thin too. I am officially concerned her eating disorder is back,” another observed.
“Oh my god. I hope she’s ok. I can’t even snark on this, she looks like she’s wasting away.”
“I’m worried about this girl. I’m not going to comment on her appearance. But I’m hoping she is well,” a third chimed in.
Other commenters were a bit more understanding — even if they shared the belief that Jinger is too thin for her own good.
“She’s been through trauma with Josh’s trial and conviction. She learned some truths about her parents that must have been extremely difficult to acknowledge,” wrote one such observer.
“I would be surprised if she was not exhibiting physical changes as a result. Hopefully she has some therapeutic help to heal.
“It must be so difficult to find out that the people you thought had your best interests at heart actually betrayed you,” another agreed.
In memoirs, interviews, and on her own podcast, Jinger has spoken openly about her body image struggles and her tendency hard on herself with regard to diet and fitness.
“For me, the wrestling was with my weight and my body image, even though I was very in shape and I didn’t need to lose weight,” she once told Us Weekly.
“I felt like I needed to; as a 14-year-old girl, I was really wrestling with that,” Jinger said at the time.
“I think in this culture around us, there is so much talk about what true beauty is and what we’re defined by — if it’s by how we look, how we were raised or how popular we are, whatever those things may be.”
Jinger stopped just short of stating that she suffered from an eating disorder — and that might be an indication that she’s internalized her parents’ very backward views on mental illness.
But whatever the case, it sounds like hundreds of strangers commenting on her weight and appearance is a nightmare come true for Jinger.
Hopefully, going forward, so-called “fans” will be a bit more compassionate in their comments.
But we’ve seen enough of the social media landscape to know how unlikely that is.
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