‘Counting On’ Star Jana Duggar Offers Look Into Life on Farm After Social Media Hiatus

Flowers grace the side of a restored barn. (Jorge Moro/Shutterstock)

Jana Duggar, a television personality known for her appearances on the TLC reality show “19 Kids and Counting” and its spinoff series “Counting On,” has given fans an update on her life following her years-long break from social media.

“It’s been a little while since I’ve shared an update, so I wanted to show you all what we’ve been up to the past few months on the farm and some fun projects that we’ve been working on,” the 34-year-old said in a vlog on her YouTube channel on Sunday.

In the four-minute video, Ms. Duggar—the second child of Jim Bob Duggar and his wife Michelle—showcased her life on the Duggar family farm in Tontitown, Arkansas, sharing clips of goats, newly hatched chicks, a duck, and a horse. The former reality star also narrated footage of the family erecting a fence on the property.

“We kinda got started later in the day, but we wanted to finish it, so that meant working late at night,” she says, adding that she and her siblings were able to put lights up to help finish the project.

“That’s really where the memories are made is in those late nights,” she said.

“The fencing turned out beautifully; I am so pleased with how it all came together,” Ms. Duggar said, showing off the completed fence. “It’s not only doing the job of keeping the animals out, but it also just creates this beautiful backdrop to the garden, and just, I think, completes that whole area.”

“I absolutely love this time of year. You can see the flowers growing, the vegetables are starting to grow, and it’s just new life that is blossoming everywhere,” she continues. “It is so beautiful out here.”

Social Media Hiatus

Ms. Duggar’s video is the first vlog post she has shared on her YouTube channel in almost four years.

Her last video, published Oct. 5, 2020, featured clips of her younger brother, James, doing yard work on the farm. She issued her last post on Twitter, now X, on Nov. 3 of that year, urging her followers to get out and vote, and on March 9, 2022, she published one of her last social media posts—taking to Instagram to share a picture of a scrap wood project she was working on.

After a little over two years away from the public eye, Ms. Duggar officially broke her social media hiatus on May 9, sharing a short clip on her Instagram page of what appears to be purple chive blossoms swaying in the wind alongside the text: “Spring beauty.” Three days later, she shared a picture of herself with the Duggar family matriarch, captioning the post: “Happy Mother’s Day, Mom!”

On Sept. 9, 2021, six months before the reality star took her leave of absence from social media, Ms. Duggar was charged with a misdemeanor count of endangering the welfare of a child, according to People. After initially pleading not guilty to the charge, Ms. Duggar entered a guilty plea on Dec. 15, 2021, and was ordered to pay an $880 fine, per Fox News.

Ms. Duggar addressed the incident in a since-expired Instagram story, writing: “The raw facts: I was babysitting a few months ago when one of the children wandered outside alone. A passerby who saw [the] child called the police. This resulted in a written citation, as well as a follow-up with child welfare who concluded that it was an accident and the child was unharmed.”

“They recognized it was a case of a child slipping out of the house when you turn your back for a moment. It all happened so quickly and was scary,” she said, noting that she was “grateful for law enforcement and those who protect and serve our community.”

“I was certainly never arrested like some may have implied,” she wrote. “In the end I was just upset at myself that it had happened at all, but so thankful it all ended safely and that’s truly what mattered most to me.”

Duggar Controversy

In December 2021, Josh Duggar, the eldest of the Duggar children, was convicted by a federal jury in Arkansas on one count each of receiving and possessing child pornography. Mr. Duggar, who pleaded not guilty to the charges against him, was sentenced to 12.5 years in prison the following May.

After challenging the conviction to the 8th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in February 2023, the court’s decision was upheld, leading the former reality star to file an appeal with the U.S. Supreme Court. However, on June 24, 2024, the Supreme Court denied the 36-year-old’s request to appeal his conviction.

The hit reality series “19 Kids and Counting,” which premiered in 2008, was ultimately canceled in July 2015 after a 2006 police report resurfaced alleging Mr. Duggar had molested multiple underage girls as a young teenager, some of whom were his sisters, Business Insider reported. Following an 11-season run, TLC’s spinoff series, “Counting On” was canceled in June 2021, two months after Mr. Duggar’s arrest.