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Joy-Anna Duggar is opening up about marrying young and her four-year age gap with husband Austin Forsyth
The 19 Kids and Counting alum, 28, spoke about meeting Forsyth, 32, when they were just 4 and 8 years old
Joy-Anna and Forsyth started dating just before she turned 18, and wed in May 2017, when she was 19 and he was 23
Joy-Anna Duggar is opening up about marrying young — as well as her age gap with husband Austin Forsyth.
During an appearance on her sister Jinger Duggar’s Jinger & Jeremy Podcast on Wednesday, Aug. 19, the 19 Kids and Counting alum, 28, spoke about meeting Forsyth, 32, when they were just 4 and 8 years old after his family moved from Texas.
“We actually met when we were really young,” Joy-Anna told her sister. “But then his family … I think they had visited wherever we were having church, and then they, like, went and they had a different church, and we didn’t see each other, really, very often until he got his driver’s license and started playing football and broom ball with the boys.”
By the time she was 14 and Forsyth was 18, Joy-Anna said she had been “crushing hard” on her now-husband.
Joy-Anna and Austin Forsyth with their kids.
Credit: Joy Forsyth/Instagram
Jinger, 32, then said that while she and husband Jeremy Vuolo, 38, have a larger age gap than Joy-Anna and her husband, Joy-Anna and Forsyth’s age gap felt “a little bit more significant” because they were younger when they got married.
“I always think you in Austin are further apart in age than you are, just because I remember you being so young,” Jinger explained.
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Joy-Anna and Forsyth wed in May 2017, when she was 19, and he was 23. The couple started dating just before Joy-Anna turned 18, she said.
“I would have married him from day one,” the Counting On alum said.
“… I don’t think when we were dating and engaged, I didn’t think past ‘we’re going to have a farmhouse and we’re going to live happily ever after,’ ” she continued. “I didn’t think past like, ‘I know he’s the one. It’s going to work out. Everything’s going to be fine.’ So there was a lot that surprised me.”
Since tying the knot, Joy-Anna and Austin have welcomed three kids: Gideon, 8, Evelyn, 5, and Gunner, 3. She also experienced a 20-week pregnancy loss in 2019 with her daughter, Annabell.
Joy-Anna has previously been candid about wanting to dispel rumors about her and Forsyth welcoming a fourth baby.
In February, the couple appeared again on Jinger and Jeremy’s podcast and spoke about pregnancy rumors that had been circulating online.
“Is there a rumor going around that you are pregnant?” Jeremy asked.
“Yes,” replied Joy. “That’s so Duggar of them!” Jinger joked.
Read the original article on People