Jill Duggar and Jessa Duggar are speaking out once again after Josh Duggar‘s molestation scandal became front-page headlines across the country.
In a new commercial-free documentary titled Breaking the Silence, which premiered Sunday night on TLC, the sisters made it clear that the topic of child sexual abuse deserves more discussion on a national scale.
And while their family situation wasn’t addressed directly, the duo acknowledged the importance of awareness.
“I feel like this should be a discussion that people are having, even regularly,” Jessa shared in the hour-long special. “I think that it shouldn’t be a taboo subject and that we should be bringing awareness to child sexual abuse and talking about it.”
The Duggars on Instagram
Jill added, “It was amazing to understand that there are so many people that deal with the exact same thing in their own families, so just being educated is very good.”
As Jessa prepares for the birth of her first child with husband Ben Seewald, the mom-to-be has learned “things I can do to set up boundary safeguards for my child and children.”
Meanwhile, their mother Michelle Duggar is impressed to see her daughters speaking out for an important cause.
“I was so glad that my girls and I were able to do this together,” she explained. “And that we could just be a support and encouragement to each other to be able to gain more information about this important topic.”
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The Duggar sisters weren’t the only familiar faces to speak out in the special that brought TLC, RAINN (Rape, Abuse & Incest National Network) and Darkness to Light together.
Teri Hatcher, Dancing With the Stars pro Cheryl Burke and other advocates were also featured in the documentary in hopes of spreading knowledge and education.
“Dance was my escape from reality,” Burke shared. “I was able to start building my confidence and know that I don’t need anybody to be happy. I just needed just me. I needed to know that I could do this on my own. I’m proof that you can actually move on from this.”
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