There’s no handbook for navigating a succession of high-profile family scandals, but if the other Duggar couples want to learn how it’s done, perhaps they should take a closer look at John David Duggar and Abbie Burnett.
Yes, John David and Abbie are about as close as you can get to a scandal-free Duggar couple.
And it seems that an important part of their approach to the drama-free lifestyle is the decision to steer clear of social media.
So fans were more than a little surprised this week when John David and Abbie posted photos from their latest vacation.
And it wasn’t just the return to Instagram that caught followers off guard.
It was also the fact that John David and Abbie chose to take a Disney cruise!
Sure, the Disney name is basically synonymous with wholesomeness, but it’s also come to be associated with “wokeness” in recent years, a reputation that would normally keep diehard cultural conservatives like the Duggars at bay.
On top of all that, fans were taken aback by the outfits that Abbie sported during her time at sea.
The mother of two sported outfits so revealing that some fans even described them as “sexy” — not a word that one typically hears in reference to the Duggar clan!
Commenters in the r/DuggarsSnark subreddit were quick to express their shock at the thoroughly modern nature of Abbie and John David’s getaway.
“There are people in skimpy bathing suits, tons of drinking, and lots of raunchy entertainment. How is this a place for fundamentalists to be?” one person asked, according to UK tabloid The Sun.
“Am I the only one shocked they went on a Disney cruise? I could see them thinking Disney is too ‘woke,’” another added.
“Abby looks like a regular person in the white dress,” a third chimed in.
“Nike on the dress. Tsk tsk…that’s a lot of leg showing! Father is seething. Mother is praying,” a fourth joked.
(The “Nike” remark is a reference to a well-known bit of Duggar lore: Boys in the family would receive this command as a prompt to look at their shoes in the presence of “immodestly” dressed women.)
“It’s not often we see a Duggar in spaghetti straps. Good for her,” another Reddit user remarked.
Now, John David and Abbie have been violating the Duggar code of conduct for quite some time.
The most famous example might be the fact that Abbie continues to work as a nurse despite the Duggar ban on women pursuing careers outside the home.
It’s not totally clear how John David earns his living, so it’s possible that Abbie is her family’s primary — or possibly even sole! — breadwinner.
Needless to say, that’s not the sort of arrangement that Jim Bob Duggar would approve of.
Thankfully, it seems that Abbie and John David are past the point of caring what Jim Bob thinks!