Joy-Anna Duggar Sets the Record Straight About Breaking Major Courtship Rule With Austin

The ‘Counting On’ star was not allowed to show physical affection, except for side-hugs, before marriage.

 recently set the record straight about whether she and her husband, Austin Forsyth, broke a major courtship rule before they married.

In early April, the former Counting On star took to her Instagram Stories for a Q&A session with followers.

Joy, 27, and Austin, 31, married in 2017 and have since welcomed three children, Gideon, 7, Evelyn, 4, and Gunner, almost 2. While they were courting, they were not allowed to hold hands, kiss or show any signs of physical affection other than a side-hug for religious reasons. Engagement meant they could hold hands but still had to have a chaperone with them at all times.

Now that they’ve been married for nearly eight years, the TLC alum directly addressed whether she and Austin really waited until their wedding day for their first kiss, as fans have long wondered if they really held out that long.

“Was your first kiss at your wedding,” one fan directly asked, per a screenshot shared in the r/DuggarsSnark subreddit.

To that, Joy-Anna replied, “Yes ma’am, it was 🥰.”

Although they did wait to kiss until marriage, Austin recently opened up about how he and Joy broke a different Duggar family protocol when she gave birth to their oldest son, Gideon.

“I don’t remember us ever having really big, like, ‘Oh, no, y’all can’t show this or whatever,’” Austin told Joy-Anna’s sister and brother-in-law, Jinger (Duggar) and Jeremy Vuolo, of the TLC show, on the Vuolos’ podcast in February.

“I think we did push back about having Gideon,” he added. “I didn’t want any film crew there.”