Fans Think Lauren Duggar Is Hiding Something In A New Instagram Post

The burning question on everyone's mind is why isn't she in it? We're talking, of course, about the most recent Instagram photoshoot, set in a picturesque peach grove (they'd have preferred, it would seem an apple grove), as posted by Lauren Duggar's sister-in-law, Joy. Lauren was tagged in it. Her child, Bella Milagro appeared in it (laughing, in a frilly white dress, with a bow on her hair, in the grass beside Joy's Gideon). But Lauren, herself, was never pictured. As you may have already noticed, Lauren Duggar hasn't posted on her own Instagram since September 9, at the 10-month mark of baby Bella. It doesn't take a genius to do the math. We're well past October 9, 2020, and Lauren hasn't posted to celebrate month 11. 

What's holding her back? The Hollywood Gossip covered one angle. It goes something like this: When Lauren Swanson became a Duggar, she married into de facto "royalty," in the fundamentalist Christian community, at least. And now (like, maybe Meghan Markle?), she's tired of the spotlight. While Lauren can't up and orchestrate a "Megxit" a la Markle, she can boycott Instagram. ("For my own self-preservation, I have not been on social media for a very long time," Markle recently told Fortune.) Is Lauren simply self-preserving? Or is she staying out of the spotlight for other reasons? 

CheatSheet's a fan of the second angle. That one sings to the tune of: Lauren Duggar isn't pictured in Joy's most recent Instagram post because she can't hide a burgeoning baby bump. We'll give the mic to Reddit's Duggar family followers. "Looking for an ... orchard? For pictures perhaps? PREGNANCY ANNOUNCEMENT PICTURES? if you will?," mused one. "I bet Lauren saw those pics Joy recently took with the photographer and wanted to copy," wrote another, "I mean wanted the same type of pics for a pregnancy announcement. So her and Joy went to go scout locations." 

This angle has got some oomph to it. It piggybacks off of fan speculation dating back to late August 2020, when Lauren was caught in a family pic celebrating her husband, Josiah's 24 birthday on the Duggar Family's official Instagram account. Was she covering her stomach on purpose? The U.S. Sun speculated. Is there a significant reason that baby Bella is cradling a baby doll?  

If Lauren is, indeed, pregnant, she has good reason to be tight-lipped about it. In February 2019, after the couple announced that they'd suffered a miscarriage, their personal tragedy was plastered all over the internet's gossip columns. So maybe, let's all give Lauren and Josiah a little bit of space?