Former 19 Kids and Counting star Jessa DuggarSeewald is addressing the comments she has received about her expanding family.
E! News reported that Duggar Seewald, who is expecting her sixth child with her husband, Ben Seewald, spoke about the criticism while filming a May 8 YouTube video. The couple are parents to five children, Spurgeon, Henry, Ivy, Fern, and George.
According to Duggar Seewald, online commenters have criticized her decision to have several children, comparing her and her husband to rabbits.
“Honestly, I have heard a lot of rude and unnecessary comments,” said Duggar Seewald.
She also said she has been asked if she’s going to be like her mother, Michelle Duggar, who famously has 19 children, with her husband, Jim Bob Duggar. She said while she is “not going to have 19 kids,” she views her mother as her “hero” and her “role model in so many ways.”
“Her patience, her love, her gentleness, her kind speech. She is the golden example of a mother in my opinion. So, when people say, ‘Do you want to be like your mother?’ I’m like, ‘Yes, please Lord help me.’ Even if people are saying that in sort of a negative way, I’m like, ‘Yes, please Lord,'” said Duggar Seewald with a small laugh.
Duggar Seewald went on to say she knows she can’t “fully control other people’s opinions.”
“It’s not other people’s approval that we should want most,” continued the 32-year-old.
Duggar Seewald opened up about her latest pregnancy in a March 2025 YouTube video. She said she and her husband are eagerly awaiting to welcome their sixth child in the summer of 2025.
“In November, we found out that we are expecting so we are overjoyed. We are so excited. Summer 2025 can not get here soon enough. We are looking forward to meeting this sweet little one that God has blessed us with,” said Duggar Seewald in her video.
She also noted that she and her husband “celebrated 10 years of marriage” in November 2024.
“It’s so hard to believe. I cannot believe we have been married an entire decade,” continued Seewald Duggar.