Jana Duggar and her twin brother John David both turned 32 on January 12.
This is significant for a number of reasons:
For one thing, fans have been obsessing over Jana’s age for years, and her record as the eldest unmarried, childless Duggar gets more impressive with each birthday.
On top of that, birthdays often provide an opportunity for reflection, a chance to examine someone’s place in life and consider how far they’ve come since last year …
… And we think it’s safe to say that Jana is not exactly crushing it these days!
Unlike her parents, siblings, and Instagram commenters, we don’t really care if Jana ever gets married or has kids.
So when we talk about Jana’s downward trajectory and general failure in life it has more to do with her continued allegiance to the worst members of her family and her recent arrest on child endangerment charges.
Jana has risked her reputation — to say nothing of her sanity and her sense of basic decency — by sticking close to her problematic parents throughout the scandals of the past year.
And now, it seems that those same people are not returning the favor.
Fans were quick to notice that none of the Duggars took to social media to wish Jana and John David a happy birthday.
Perhaps it’s because they didn’t want to field any difficult questions about her brush with the law.
Or maybe the members of Counting On clan just aren’t as close as they used to be.
Whatever the case, Jana’s critics — many of whom are probably former fans — are having a field day with her fall from grace.
“She’s 32 in a few days and shares a bedroom with 4 preteens and teenagers whose diapers she once changed,” one Reddit user wrote this week, according to The Sun.
“I just can’t imagine. It is slightly impressive that she’s still functioning at all,” another chimed in.
While it seems that there’s been a slight loosening of the infamously strict Duggar courtship rules in recent years, a source tells The Sun that certain aspects remain unchanged.
And so, despite the fact that she’s well into adulthood, Jana is still not permitted to move out of her parents’ home until she finds a man and gets married.
“Jana is very independent and more alpha compared to her sisters, but she can’t get a place of her own until she meets someone her family approves of,” the insider says.
“The Duggars are so religious, they wouldn’t agree with her moving out and living alone, or living with a friend or boyfriend, it’s frowned upon, it’s ridiculous but it’s how it’s always been,” the source continues, very much stating the obvious.
The insider adds that Jana would love to follow in her sisters’ footsteps by moving out of her parents’ house, but she knows that her folks are inflexible on that point.
“She wants to fly the nest, but it’s hard as she has to find the right guy, which is a goal for all of the girls, and she hates being the last single sister,” says the source.
“Jana likes doing things on her own and enjoys DIY, she’s not the type who needs looking after in any way, but she’s really ready to move out and live her own life.”
Yes, there’s a sad irony in Jana’s independent streak, as she’ll never be able to fully explore unless she gets married.
This is just another reminder that the Duggar family was supremely effed long before Josh got arrested on child pornography charges.
And we’re sure they’ll continue to be awful for many years to come.
