Former IBLP member Emilia Elizabeth Anderson she recounts within the series that she was Jane Doe III because she preferred to be identified when she and nine other women sued Gothard in 2016 alleging sexual abuse and harassment.
She recalls how Gothard invited her when she was 14 to drop out of homeschooling and live “indefinitely” on the IBLP headquarters in Chicago. He told her that her father now not loved her and had “lost all power over her,” he claims, so Gothard “shall be her recent authority.”
Elizabeth describes the evening Gothard took her to his office and was visibly surprised to see the assistant still working, assuming they might be alone.
Gothard resigned from the IBLP board in March 2014 following an investigation by outside counsel into allegations of sexual misconduct, which ultimately determined that he had acted in an “inappropriate”, if not criminal, manner. When the IBLP shared the investigation’s findings in June 2014, Gothard said in a later deleted statement: “My actions of holding hands, hugging and touching the feet or hair of young women crossed the lines of discretion and were improper.”
The now 88-year-old has not responded to E! for comment and declined to comment on the series. He previously denied allegations of sexual abuse.
Plaintiffs withdrew their lawsuit in 2018, but told Recovering Grace (an internet IBLP alumni support community and its homeschooling program, the Advanced Training Institute) that they “don’t recant” their allegations or deny the incalculable damage we consider has been caused Gothard completed by his deeds and certain teachings”.
Explaining on the show why they stopped pursuing Gothard in court, along with the statute of limitations and financial burdens, Elizabeth says: “It’s always remembering probably the most terrifying memories of your life and repeating them over and once more. In the event you resolve to maneuver forward in a case, it is also essential that you just realize the emotional burden this may proceed to position on you. Frankly, the price was too high.”
Jinger Duggar, who detailed her break from IBLP in her 2023 memoir, was the one member of her family to apparently comment on Gothard’s legal issues. She tweeted in 2018 that although she was a Christian, “I actually have to be honest and true to myself by posting this on Twitter. I do not support Bill Gothard and the Bible Institute [sic] Principles of life in any way, shape or form. I find his “teachings” very questionable.”