Jill and Jessa Duggar Defend Their Brother Josh: 'We Are Not a Perfect Family'

The reality stars speak out about being "improperly touched."

ByABC News
June 5, 2015, 10:19 AM

— -- In a preview of tonight's interview with Fox News Channel's Megyn Kelly, Jill and Jessa Duggar defend their brother days after their parents Michelle and Jim Bob said he touched them inappropriately in the early 2000s.

The interview with Jill and Jessa tonight is the second part of Kelly's sit-down with the family.

Jill fired back at critics who have said the Duggars carried themselves as the prefect, Christian family, only to have this story about Josh break last month.

"Well, I think that you know some people, I've heard them say you know 'you're hypocrites' well if you go back and look at everything people that have seen in our lives, in television you know, we've never claimed to be a perfect family; my parents have always actually stated you know, we are not a perfect family," Jill said.

When asked whether they considered themselves victims, Jessa said, "I do want to speak up in his defense against people who are calling him a child molester or a pedophile or a rapist, some people are saying. I'm like, that is so overboard and a lie, really. I mean, people get mad at me for saying that but I am like, I can say this, you know? I was one of the victims."

The Duggars' reality-TV show, "19 Kids and Counting," which has been pulled from the TLC schedule but not yet canceled, focused on the family's life, including their rules of courting recently, with Jill and Jessa both getting married in the past two years. The girls can't hold hands until they are engaged and usually don't kiss until their wedding.

Then in May, the report surfaced that Josh, starting at the age of 14, had inappropriately touched minor girls and that this incident was later investigated by police in 2006. He then apologized saying he "acted inexcusably" and "sought forgiveness for those I had wronged." Josh is now 27.

The Duggars did not immediately respond to ABC News' request for comment.

On the first part of the sit-down with Fox Wednesday, Jim Bob and Michelle Duggar revealed that Josh had "improperly touched" a babysitter and four of their daughters, including Jill, now 24, and Jessa, now 22. Jim Bob said the touching was for a few seconds, some over and under clothes.

In the interview with Kelly, Jill decried the release of what were sealed juvenile records.

“They don’t have a right to do this,” Jill said, crying. "We are victims. They can't do this to us."

Jessa added the system was set up to protect kids and had failed to do so.

Also on Wednesday's interview, Jim Bob called the episode "one of the most darkest times," saying "Josh came to us on his own and was crying."

“He said he had improperly touched some of our daughters,” he said. “He said he was just curious about girls and he had gone in and touched them over their clothes when they were sleeping.”

Michelle Duggar, Josh’s mother, added that after speaking to the girls, they knew nothing about “Josh’s wrongdoing.”