Josh Duggar's confession of porn addiction no longer shows in a statement that came following reports that he spent almost US$1,000 on two Ashley Madison subscriptions.
The former star of TLC reality show "19 Kids and Counting" released a statement through the Duggar family's website on Thursday admitting that he was the "biggest hypocrite ever."
"While espousing faith and family values, I have secretly over the last several years been viewing pornography on the Internet, and this became a secret addiction, and I have become unfaithful to my wife," he wrote.
Duggar went on to say that he was "ashamed of the double life that I have been living" and was "grieved" over the "hurt, pain and disgrace" it had brought to his family, and to Jesus Christ.
"The last few years, while publicly I was fighting against immorality in our country I was hiding my own personal failures," he said.
"As I am learning the hard way, we have the freedom to choose our own actions, but we do not get to choose our consequences."
But the reference to his porn addiction disappeared from the statement about an hour later, People pointed out.
Gawker reported Wednesday that Duggar, who has four kids with his wife ANna, showed up in a data dump after hackers infiltrated Ashley Madison, which advertises itself as the "most famous name in infidelity and married dating."
The data shows a credit card with the name Joshua J. Duggar paid for two accounts on the cheating site between February 2013 and May 2015.
This user also paid $250 for an "affair guarantee," meaning they would have received their money back if an encounter didn't happen within a specific time period.
The family statement did not confirm whether Josh had used Ashley Madison.
News of Duggar's porn addiction comes three months after Josh admitted to molesting his sisters and other girls when he was a teen.
Duggar resigned as head of conservative group the Family Research Council (FRC) amid reports about the molestation earlier this year, The Washington Post reported.
"We are grieved by Josh's conduct and the devastating impact of his pornography addiction and marital unfaithfulness," FRC president Tony Perkins said in a statement that appeared on its site Thursday.
"Those of us who advocate for family values in the public square are held to a higher standard, and Josh’s failures serve as a painful reminder of the destructive effects of not living with integrity."
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