Jinger Duggar Vuolo says it's 'difficult to even discuss' estranged brother Josh and his conviction

It isn't easy even now for Jinger Duggar Vuolo to discuss her brother Josh, who was convicted of receiving and possessing child pornography in December 2021. Even before that, a police report resurfaced to show that, when Josh was a teen, he had molested five girls, including several of his sisters.

"That's been one of the hardest things," Vuolo, referencing her brother's case, told Us Weekly upon the Tuesday release of her new book, Becoming Free Indeed, which recounts her time being raised on disgraced pastor Bill Gothard's Institute in Basic Life Principles and, later, becoming a follower of Christ. "It is difficult to even discuss [Josh]. What I will say is that I am grateful for the justice system. I'm grateful that justice is being served with my brother."

Because of what's happened with her estranged brother, Vuolo has felt it necessary to "lean harder" on her faith.

"My heart just breaks for the victims and their families," the alum of TLC's 19 Kids and Counting and Counting On told the outlet. "People will always let us down and fail us. You can look at something like that and say, 'How in the world is this possible? How could this have happened?' It just takes so much time to work through in your mind and process everything."

In an Entertainment Tonight story published the same day, Vuolo noted that she hasn't spoken to Josh in two years, but she's "always here" for his wife, Anna, and their seven children. Vuolo has two daughters of her own with husband Jeremy Vuolo, whom she married in 2016.

"My prayer for my brother is that, in this time, he will repent and truly be broken over his sin," she said, "and so that is something like I said is so hard to discuss and talk about. I really would hope that he would truly change."

Josh Duggar is currently serving more than 12 years for his crimes.