Josh Duggar Opts Out of Jill and Jessa's First Public Appearance After Molestation Scandal

Sisters previously came out in defense of their brother

By Alyssa Toomey, Senta Scarborough Jun 19, 2015 7:28 PMTags
Jessa Duggar, Jill Duggar, InstagramInstagram

Looks like Jessa and Jill Duggar are moving forward as a united family following brother Josh Duggar's molestation scandal

The two sisters, along with husbands Ben Seewald and Derek Dillard, as well as Derek and Jill's two-month-old son Israel, traveled to Ohio today for the ALIVE Christian Music Festival, which is set to take place on Saturday. The event marks the siblings' first public appearance since they revealed in an interview with Fox News earlier this month that they were two of their brother's victims

"Awesome travel buddies," Jessa, 22, who is expecting her first child with Seewald captioned a photo at the airport of her famous family. 

While Jessa's photo features the five aforementioned 19 Kids and Counting stars, the festival organizers website says Josh, 27 and his wife, Anna, are also expected to appear at the festival. 

PHOTOS: Reality TV's biggest scandals

Scott Enlow/Discovery

E! News reached out to the event manager, who confirmed that Josh and Anna Duggar will not be attending. Additionally, a master schedule for the event lists the Seewalds and Dillards, but the Duggars are noticeably absent. 

The appearance comes two weeks after Jill and Jessa defended their brother while speaking with Fox News' Megyn Kelly

"Well, I think in the case of what Josh did, it was very wrong," Jessa said. "I'm not going to justify anything that he did or say it was ok, not permissible, but I do want to speak up in his defense against people who are calling him a child molester or a pedophile or a rapist, some people are saying.

"I'm like that is so overboard and a lie really, I mean people get mad at me for saying that but I can say this because I was one of the victims," she revealed. "So I can speak out and I can say this and set the record straight here. Like in Josh's case, he was a boy, a young boy in puberty and a little too curious about girls. And that got him into to some trouble. And he made some bad choices, but really the extent of it was mild, inappropriate touching, on fully clothed victims, most of it while girls were sleeping."

PHOTOS: The Duggars on Instagram