JOY-ANNA Duggar broke down in tears over her ‘crumbling’ family, postpartum depression battle and sisters’ tell-all books in a candid new podcast chat.

Reality star Joy-Anna, 26, confessed she questioned her own reality following the birth of her younest son Gunner, 13 months, who she shares with her husband Austin Forsyth.

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Joy-Anna Duggar broke down in tears in a candid new podcast chatCredit: Instagram/unplanned__podcast

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She spoke about her ‘crumbling’ family, postpartum depression battle and sisters’ tell-all booksCredit: Instagram/unplanned__podcast
In a clip shared to Instagram from The Unplanned Podcast, she said: “It all came just crumbling down. Postpartum, my family had a lot of struggles at that time, and then these books come out.

Joy-Anna appeared to be referring to the titles written by her sisters, including Jill’s Counting the Cost, published in September 2023, and Jinger’s Becoming Free Indeed, which was released just four months before Gunner’s birth in January 2023.

In the books, the siblings lifted the lid on their families controversies, including their show Counting On being axed after Josh was arrested and charged with child pornography in 2021.

Joy-Anna added in the podcast: “I came to a point where I was just like, ‘What do I believe? What is even real?'”

Elsehwere, she reflected on her experience with the mood disorder in more detail, noting how it differed from her previous pregnancies.

She explained that, while she suffered with baby blues for six months after the stillbirth of her daughter Annabelle in 2019, this time felt more extreme.

Joy-Anna attributed much of her struggle to not taking proper care of herself during her pregnancy, leading to physical exhaustion and other challenges.

She said: “I didn’t know with my first what was happening, but I was in a fog for like six months.

“We had a stillbirth after Gideon, and after I delivered her, Annabelle, I had baby blues for probably about six months. But it wasn’t as extreme as this time.

“But this one, I think a lot of it was not taking very good care of myself during pregnancy. My body was depleted. I felt exhausted all the time. It compiled with all the other things.”

Describing the aftermath, she said, “Everything crumbled after that. I would wish that on no mom. I know a lot of moms go through it.

“The thing that probably helped me the most is I was talking to a counselor once a week. Just talking through a lot of family stuff, a lot of spiritual stuff.”

The 19 Kids and Counting star said she was encouraged by Austin to see a counselor for her mental health issues.

While she was initially hesitant to seek help, she eventually realized that it was necessary to address her problems.

She said that her counselor helped her to understand the root causes of her depression and to develop healthy coping mechanisms.

Joy-Anna explained: “He really encouraged me, he kept saying, ‘Don’t just ask all these questions and not search for answers.’

“He was like, ‘If you have these big questions of, ‘Is God real or does God care about me?’ or the bigger doctrinal questions, you need to be proactive and search those out because I want you to know for yourself.”

She added of her husband’s backing: “I really appreciate that about Austin because I know not everybody has such a supportive of husband but he never made me feel like, ‘I can’t believe you’re going through this,’ and, ‘I can’t believe you’re questioning God.’

“He was constantly there supporting me, wanting me to grow, become a better person and encouraging me to search stuff out from myself.

“And so, anyway, the long answer to that question is I think it really helped me, spiritually, taking my faith from a lot of fear-based…

“That’s similar to Jinger, a lot of searching myself, searching things out for myself and knowing that God loves me no matter what I do or what I don’t do and that and I’m still on a journey.”

It’s been a tough time for Joy-Anna lately as, just last week, Gunner was rushed to the hospital after a cold developed worrying symptoms that they couldn’t treat at home.

Initially showing mild symptoms like a cough and runny nose, Gunner’s condition worsened, leading to labored breathing.

Despite at-home treatments, they took him to the ER, where he received steroids, breathing treatments, and oxygen.

After two nights in the hospital, Gunner recovered.

Joy-Anna expressed relief and concern about his respiratory struggles, possibly linked to asthma, which runs in their family.

This health scare followed a previous incident in June when Gunner nearly choked on food but recovered after emergency care.

Also this summer, Joy-Anna boldly broke her dad, Jim Bob’s strict modesty rules, which she followed growing up.

Plus, she and Austin have found a buyer for their home as they suffer from money problems.

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She shares Gideon and Evelyn, both four, with her husband Austin ForsythCredit: instagram/joy4site

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Jinger’s Becoming Free Indeed was released just four months before Gunner’s birth in January 2023Credit: Thomas Nelson

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Jill’s Counting the Cost was published in September 2023Credit: Instagram

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Their brother Josh was arrested and charged with child pornography in 2021