Josh and Anna Duggar Update: She Compares His Cheating to Labor Pains, But Expresses Hope in God's Plan for Future

By Leah Marieann Klett
Anna Duggar
Anna Duggar, 27, pictured during Sunday's installment of TLC's "Jill & Jessa: Counting On" YouTube/ScreenGrab

Anna Duggar, the wife of embattled reality star Josh Duggar, further opened up about the heartbreak resulting from her husband's infidelity and compared it to severe labor pains but expressed hope in God's faithfulness for the future.

During Sunday's third and final episode of the mini-series Jill & Jessa: Counting On, Anna, 27, opened up about how she felt after her husband of six years admitted to struggling with a pornography addiction and infidelity amid reports he had active accounts on Ashley Madison, a website created to facilitate adulterous affairs.

"At one point," she told the camera, "I was like, 'I feel like I've been in labor for like days.' It's like when you're in labor, you just make it through the next contraction and go on and I think there's been a lot of that lately, of just taking the next step and going on."

While visiting sister-in-law Jessa's home with her husband, Ben Seewald, which was previously the house Anna and Josh lived in, Anna tearfully told Jessa, "It's special being here because the house is so different, and it's definitely Jessa and Ben's house, but there are a lot of fond memories of starting out here."

She later added, "It's kind of a tender spot to go back and be in what was our starter home. There are a lot of sweet memories running through my mind. It was good to be back and remember, and I guess have some time to look back.

"We'll see what God has in store for the future."  

As reported by the Gospel Herald, the hit TLC show 19 Kids and Counting was canceled in May after initial reports that Josh had molested five underage girls as a young teen. The eldest Duggar son also resigned from his position at the conservative lobbying group Family Research Council in light of the revelations.

Josh is currently receiving treatment at a faith-based rehab center and is not expected to return home for quite some time -- leaving Anna to care for their four young children with the help of her in-laws.

On Sunday's special, Anna recalled how she and Josh lived in the home (owned by Jim Bob and Michelle Duggar) for almost five years, during which two of their children were born.

She recounted the humiliating moment her water broke in the home: "It was embarrassing. I just ruined the carpet." The young mother later joked to a heavily-pregnant Jessa, "You can save your placenta and have a nice little steak."

On last week's installment of "Jill & Jessa: Moving On", Anna revealed that she will not divorce Josh despite his infidelity, emphasizing that it's her "heart's desire" to see her marriage restored.

"In my heart, when I got married, I vowed to God first and then to Joshua, 'For better or for worse. 'Til death do we part. I pray that through all of this that I would be an extension of God's love to Joshua, that I would love him and forgive him and wait patiently and allow God to work through our hearts."

"My prayer and my heart's desire is for our marriage to be restored," she added.

Sunday's episode also showed the birth of Jessa and Ben's firstborn son, Spurgeon, and followed Jill and Derick Dillard as they do missionary work in Central America and consider adopting a second child.

While Jill & Jessa: Counting On has come to a close, some have speculated that TLC may bring back the Duggar family in 2016 due to the sky-high ratings the three-part special received.