Jessa Lauren Seewald is an American television personality. She is known for being part of the cast of TLC's reality show19 Kids and Counting and Counting On. She also co-authored a book with her sisters Jana, Jill and Jinger titled Growing Up Duggar: It's All About Relationships.
Early life
Seewald was born in Tontitown, Arkansas, on November 4, 1992 as the fifth child and third daughter of the family. She was her parents’ heaviest baby at birth, after being born at the hospital. She was later joined by fourteen more siblings, totalling to ten boys and nine girls. She was homeschooled as a child.
Career
Television
Seewald began her public life as a member of the family featured in the documentary 14 Children and Pregnant Again, which talks about daily life of the family from the "time they wake up" to the "time they go to sleep". The documentary aired on the Discovery Health Channel. Another documentary, Raising 16 Children was produced on the same channel in 2006, when Seewald's sister Johannah was born. This was followed by another feature, On the Road with 16 Children about a family cross-country trip. On September 29, 2008, 19 Kids and Counting began as a regular series based on the Duggar family. The show's final episode aired May 19, 2015 and was formally cancelled on July 16, 2015. Another series, , starring Seewald and her sister Jill, premiered on December 13, 2015.
Book
With three of her sisters, Seewald co-wrote Growing up Duggar, a book published by Howard Books, in 2014. The book describes growing up in the Duggar home, social relationships, and their religious beliefs.
Personal life
Marriage and family
Jessa began courting Benjamin “Ben” Michael Seewald in September 2013, and they were engaged eleven months later. They got married on November 1, 2014. Together, the couple have three children; Spurgeon Elliot, Henry Wilberforce, Ivy Jane.
Sexual Abuse
In a June 2015 interview on The Kelly File, Seewald identified herself as one of the girls sexually abused by her oldest brother, Josh Duggar, when he was a teenager. She described the abuse as “mild inappropriate touching,” saying it occurred while she was sleeping and fully clothed. Seewald further stated she became aware of the abuse after her parents told her what had occurred following her brother's confession. While Seewald described the abuse as “very wrong,” she decried those referring to her brother as a child molester or a pedophile or a rapist, saying, “that is so overboard, and a lie, really.” Regarding the police reports describing the abuse while she was a minor being released to the media, Seewald said, “the system that was set up to protect kids...it's greatly failed.”
