Michelle D. Past, Present, and Future

[luckylassie]

I know that Michelle was raised pretty mainstream as a child but after her marriage to J.B. and miscarriage, she changed drastically. What do you think her mothering was like in the early years? How about now and in the future when TLC leaves?

[emmiedahl]

I think she is going to go apeshit crazy in the future. TLC's ditching them will coincide roughly with menopause--the end of the only occupations she has ever known--and the older girls are looking like they'll be jumping ship anyday. The future is not looking pretty for J'Chelle. She'd better brush up on her cleaning/cooking/childrearing skills.

[ophelia]

I think she really needs to take some lessons in cleaning etc. but I also think that she and JB will do everything to get on the fame-train again. Once famewhores, always famewhores!

[xDreamerx]

I honestly wonder about her early years. She said she converted to Christianity after a scary movie about the rapture at 15. What kind of 15 year old is that gullible?

[Kitten]

What kind of 15 year old is that gullible?

The kind that, a little later on, would buy into the whole ATI lifestyle? Just sayin'...

[luckylassie]

I've wondered about this too. I know that a lot of the ideas that I believed at 15 have totally changed now. Michelle basically decided that she was afraid of what would happen to her after death and then "converted" to Christianity. It seems like on big jump to another with her. She went fast from mainstream to Christian, from Christian to marriage, and then mainstream Christian to Gothardite baby machine. Sometimes, when she talks, she seems like a little girl that never got to grow up.

[Jessica]

The kind that at 21 can be convinced that the pill causes abortions? Just sayin'.

[marmalade]

As the baby and living with only one other sibling, I imagine she was spoiled rotten. She had her swimming, rollerskating and cheerleading (and who knows what other activities we don't know about); she was a little princess.

In that respect, nothing's really changed with her and if it hasn't by now, despite her efforts to sound humble and grateful (betcha she's grateful now: she has 5 slaves to do her work for her), there are glimpses of the real Michelle that come out. There are two I can vividly remember: one is the "leave and cleave, baby" that actually made it on air and the behavior she exhibited towards Hannie and Jackson when they goofed off in a talking head (that didn't make the cut...she just about lost it...never raise your voice my ass). If the TLC crew wasn't there and they goofed off in a similar manner, I imagine that the "hand to hit" would have also been raised.

I can't believe more people don't see through her superficial act of pure bullshit. All she does now is spew the shit she's memorized by rote over the past 20 years as a Gothardite.

Once a dumbass, always a dumbass.

[lilwriter85]

I think she really needs to take some lessons in cleaning etc. but I also think that she and JB will do everything to get on the fame-train again. Once famewhores, always famewhores!

Boob and Mullet will probably remain on the famewhore train once the show ends. They will start doing more speaking engagements and they will probably get support/backing from certain Christian or conservative organizations. I predict they will still write more books which will get decent sales. I could also see them trying to get on the Today Show or others shows to promote their books.

[lilwriter85]

As the baby and living with only one other sibling, I imagine she was spoiled rotten. She had her swimming, rollerskating and cheerleading (and who knows what other activities we don't know about); she was a little princess.

In that respect, nothing's really changed with her and if it hasn't by now, despite her efforts to sound humble and grateful (betcha she's grateful now: she has 5 slaves to do her work for her), there are glimpses of the real Michelle that come out. There are two I can vividly remember: one is the "leave and cleave, baby" that actually made it on air and the behavior she exhibited towards Hannie and Jackson when they goofed off in a talking head (that didn't make the cut...she just about lost it...never raise your voice my ass). If the TLC crew wasn't there and they goofed off in a similar manner, I imagine that the "hand to hit" would have also been raised.

I can't believe more people don't see through her superficial act of pure bullshit. All she does now is spew the shit she's memorized by rote over the past 20 years as a Gothardite.

Once a dumbass, always a dumbass.

It does irk me that people can't see through the BS Michelle throws out. I think the people that like her tend to be the types of people who don't want to see that sweet Christian moms have their flaws. Michelle with her little girl voice presents herself as this sweet gentle women who works hard everyday. Michelle in the past when the J'Slaves were younger probably had more stress in her life. But now she is pretty much spoiled because she has 5 girls doing a lot of work for her including homeschooling which is something she should be doing for the all kids who don't have their GED's.

[luckylassie]

Yeah, on one episode, there was a preview of the episode where J.B. and her go over the new book. Jimbob said something like "Michelle is sweet but she can be firm when she needs to be" and it cut to Michelle saying "I don't wanna talk about it anymore". I wish it was on youtube so I could give a link but I can't.

[luckylassie]

On the "First Grandson" special or an episode before it, Anna, Michelle, Johannah, and I think one of the older girls went to have their nails done at a salon. I seriously doubt that Michelle did that on her own, she probably knew about the flack she got about having Anna and Priscilla help her when the oldest girls were in El salvador this year and had to do damage control.

[bananacat]

It's hard to know how Michelle's parents raised her, but she seemed pretty mainstream. They did let her get married at 17 which seems unusual, because it wasn't that long ago (probably early 80s). All of her siblings seemed to turn out ok so I don't really think her parents had much to do with her turning out this way.

I know that Jim Bob's dad absolutely disapproved of his lifestyle, so I don't know where he got it either. It seems like two complete freaks, one a money-grubber and one an attention whore, just managed to get together and also coincidentally both be so gullible as to fall for Gothardism.

[Kitty]

I suspect that neither Jim Bob nor Michelle were very bright when they were young. I also suspect that since they married so young they never had a chance to grow up, and Michelle was infantilized and has been for a very long time. I have a feeling that this was just some teenage "finding oneself" sort of thing that went way too far.

[Buzzard]

I suspect that neither Jim Bob nor Michelle were very bright when they were young. I also suspect that since they married so young they never had a chance to grow up, and Michelle was infantilized and has been for a very long time. I have a feeling that this was just some teenage "finding oneself" sort of thing that went way too far.

Agreed. I believe that the "financial freedom" seminar really did have an impact on him. When youre young and not so bright its easy to get sucked in...

[HowRude]

I think that the Michelle Duggar in the future will have to brush up on the child rearing skills because the girls will leave. Also the younger ones are less whipped into shape than the older ones, so Michelle will be having fun since the older ones are on the way to the exit. For sure she will spoil Josie and try to keep her at home for as long as possible. Maybe she will even become more mainstream and do some of the things that she never had a chance to. She might even delve deeper into blogging

[luckylassie]

@ How rude....I think that Michelle will have to learn how to mothering skills. It appears that she has officially "checked out" when it comes to raising her own kids. Come by the fundie fiction forum and see how you life the new parodies. I"m starting to run out off ideas.

[tabitha2]

http://amazingsix.blogspot.com/2011/08/ ... ggars.html

Blame her buddy Janet not JB.

[Stickers]

I really do wonder what they'll do when the TLC paycheck isn't there. I think Michelle will become even more of a working women then she is now. Maybe take up blogging full time so they have a new way to push their brand? But aside from their books they don't have much a brand now do they? The shows mostly about pushing the QF thing... they'll have to expand their brand then.

If they were smart fame whore they'd adopt a baby. They could milk that for a long time.

Or maybe she'll just rebel and go rollerskating everyday :lol:

[ophelia]

How big is that TLC paycheck? What do you think? About what amount of money are we talking here...?!

[tehgoobster]

How big is that TLC paycheck? What do you think? About what amount of money are we talking here...?!

I've read that they probably get between $20,000 and $50,000 per episode, and since they film about forty episodes per year, they probably make between $800,000 and $2,000,000 a year from the show alone. The royalty rate for hardcover books is usually around 15%, so if their book is $25, they'd make nearly $3.75 per book sale. If they sell 500,000 copies of their book this year, they'll make nearly $2,000,000 from that. The Duggars are also represented by Premiere Speakers Bureau, and many of their clients speak for a fee, so it's possible that they also charge for at least some of their speeches.

premierespeakers.com/christian/the_duggars

So yeah, I think that they're Professional Christians , and I think that Professional Christianity can be pretty lucrative.

[Antigone]

Huh. She seems pretty mainstream but then freaks out, probably has a hard time "finding oneself". I know I do, since I had a hard youth and had to grow up quickly, and never had a chance to "find myself" and now am struggling with the consequences of that. I can understand a bit of J'Chelle from that POV, but beyond that.... no. Just, no.

TLC will leave, and then J'Chelle will work harder to make sure she continues in the lifestyle she has grown accustomed to. I'm pretty sure the girls will stay, but they might stop contributing so much beyond 'x' since they are now legal adults and I'm pretty sure some have enough 'fire' left in them to realize that they have the right to ... well, grow up :) I can see her going batshit crazy at some point in the future...

Honestly, I think the fallout will impact not J'chelle so much but more Boob and the youngest kids. I'm still not sure about Josie, I know from experience that she always will be a 'miracle' child and somehow put in a miracle bubble for the rest of her life, moreso if she has some kind of issues, not to mention TEH EVIL/BLESSED DISABILITY CARD if it pops up. I hate that damn card, it's one of those wild cards that can shake things up.

Go, Josie, and give them hell for me!!! ;)

[MrsYoungie]

Does Michelle even realise the irony of her current life? That she is, in fact, a working mom who leaves her children on a regular basis. All these speaking gigs that she does - how is that different from any other working mother?

[Avalondaughter]

I honestly wonder about her early years. She said she converted to Christianity after a scary movie about the rapture at 15. What kind of 15 year old is that gullible?

People who are easily scared are quite vulnerable. Part of my attraction to Christianity in my early teens had less to do with being moved by the spirit or having Jesus speak to me than it had to do with my fear of going to Hell. I never committed or was fully "saved" (I tried, but never really felt saved) and wondered if I really wanted to go through with it all and I would tell myself over and over, "You have to commit to this, because even if it's not what you're feeling now, what if you go to Hell when you die." I watched a couple of horror movies when I was inapprorpriately young to be watching them and it also gave me this fear that the devil lurked around every corner, waiting to possess me if I wasn't careful.

In other words, I'm not surprised by Michelle's actions at all. However, I came to realize that it was ridiculous to follow a religion just out of fear and that if I hadn't been told by humans I would go to Hell for not being saved my whole life, I would never have that fear. Michelle unfortunately was "punished" for not being a good enough Christian, so her beliefs ended up being reinforced.

[IReallyAmHopewell]

I think she was a pretty normal young Mom until they got into ATI They have said she wasn't very organized and that she still worked in real estate and the car lot when necessary. Jim-Bob said in a very recent interview that his Dad's spiritual life wasn't in order. I'm assuming that he equates that with why they never had any money. All of that seems to have led them to ATI. They were very, very ATI for a number of years. Then after God kept "blessing" them with so many kids it became a 24/7 job to make end meet. I applaud them for all the ways they found to support their family--it is amazing. And, let's see a show of hands? how many of us would even try to build a SIMPLE basic Abe Lincoln-era "house" let alone the one they live in?

Anyway, I think somewhere between there and today, Michelle signed off. She births, nurses and is done. AFTER TLC....they'll ride the lecture circuit till it dries up and they are stuck with Churches giving a love offering. Their books are probably being remaindered as I type this. Hopefully, they get paid for re-runs. I DO think they will continue to work in Central America. I wouldn't be surprised if, several years from now, they spend time in the mission field.