Report: Josh Duggar allegedly had two Ashley Madison profiles

(Image credit: Twitter.com/SFGate)

last updated 20 August 2015

Josh Duggar — former executive director of the conservative lobbying group Family Research Council, star of the canceled reality show 19 Kids and Counting, and married father of four — was allegedly one of the Ashley Madison users whose data was leaked on Tuesday.

Ashley Madison, a dating website for people looking to cheat on their spouses, was the target of a data breach last month, and hackers said they would release the personal information of millions of users if the site didn't shut down. Gawker reports that data posted online shows Duggar was a member who paid $986.76 for two monthly subscriptions from February 2013 to May 2015, and someone used the credit card for a Joshua J. Duggar with a billing address matching his grandmother Mary's house in Fayetteville, Arkansas. Gawker says the data also shows that Duggar's profile said his "turn-ons" included "naughty girl," "girl next door," and "aggressive/take charge nature," and he was interested in finding a partner for "experimenting with sex toys" and "sharing fantasies."

A second account was registered in July 2014, Gawker says, which appears to be linked to Duggar's home in Oxon Hill, Maryland. Duggar resigned from his position at the Family Research Council in May after it was revealed he molested five young girls, including four of his sisters, beginning in 2002. "I acted inexcusably for which I am extremely sorry and deeply regret," he said in a statement in May. "I hurt others, including my family and close friends." The Duggars' show was also eventually canceled by its network, TLC.

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Catherine Garcia has worked as a senior writer at The Week since 2014. Her writing and reporting have appeared in Entertainment Weekly, The New York Times, Wirecutter, NBC News and "The Book of Jezebel," among others. She's a graduate of the University of Redlands and the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism.

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