Anna Renee Keller is best known for her troubled marriage to Josh Duggar today, but she wasn't always forced to live her life in the spotlight. In fact, marrying into the Duggar family was a big moment for Anna, even though things didn't turn out the way she probably hoped.
Some also say that Anna entirely changed her personality after marrying Josh Duggar, and not in a good way.
Who Was Anna Before Marrying Josh Duggar?
Not much is known about Anna Keller in her pre-Duggar era, but a few "insider" sources have spilled some details. It's said that the Kellers raised their eight children very much like the Duggars, with strict rules and conservative values.
In fact, Anna reportedly wasn't allowed to talk about Josh with her siblings, in terms of her romantic feelings for him. But as much as Anna was apparently in love with Josh, she seemed to have had her own life before their engagement.
Anna Keller graduated high school at 16, then enrolled in college courses in child development; it's unclear what type of degree or certificate she may have earned, or from where, but the point is that she pursued education outside her homeschooled family.
Anna also apparently laid down some ground rules before she and Josh were ever married.
The two met at a homeschool convention in 2006, but Anna reportedly told Josh that she didn't want to get engaged until she was 20 (he later proposed on her 20th birthday). Things happened quickly after that; Josh and Anna got married the same year, and in 2009, their first child (daughter Mackynzie) was born.
But years ago, amid the scandal that was Josh Duggar's public admission to cheating on Anna, a "source" told People that Anna used to be a gregarious type of person.
They explained, "She’s really fun. She was always the bossy sister, but in a fun way. If she and her siblings were playing a game, she would make sure they were doing it exactly by the rules. They always had a good time together."
After meeting the Duggars, Anna was said to have toned things down, acting "like Michelle," and talking "like her, real soft." And despite having some post-high school education, Anna didn't pursue a career of her own after getting married.
Marrying Josh Duggar Changed Anna's Whole Life
The early observations that Anna changed after becoming a Duggar didn't come solely from a single source close to the family. In an AMA featuring someone who "grew up closely connected with Anna Duggar," a Redditor asked what Anna was like "personality wise."
The response was that Anna "used to be really sassy and funny and outgoing," and that she always got in trouble for having fun, talking too loudly, and talking back. When commenters expressed surprise at Anna Keller's true personality, the conversation turned to whether Anna had been "reeled in" because of who she married, and the family she was now part of.
Some commenters even speculated that Anna marrying Josh was intentional to get her to tone down, a move made by her parents to 'tame' her personality.
The Kellers and Duggars were apparently connected by a mutual friend, so spectators assume that the match was made to get Anna to become more passive while misguidedly providing Josh an "outlet" for his intimate desires.
The "insider" who knew Anna's family proposed that "all that mattered was she was marrying into a higher class family of power," so the publicity was a factor in the couple's relationship and marriage.
In terms of whether anyone knew about Josh's apparent criminal activity during his teen years, it's said that the Kellers and Duggars were introduced by an older couple who thought the two large families (with similar religious beliefs) should meet.
The insider clarified that it seems unlikely that the older couple had any inkling of what the Duggars were covering up at the time, and have likely regretted their role in combining the families since then.
What Is Anna's Life Like Today?
After her husband was sentenced to over a decade in prison, Anna Duggar mostly fell silent on social media. Though many people have speculated about whether Anna will eventually divorce Josh, so far, she's stood by him and visited him in prison.
Anna has even been accused of manipulating people to get them to support Josh publicly, but none of that has seemed to help given his lengthy prison sentence.
Yet it seems Anna is still standing by her husband, for whatever reason, though many believe it's her religious convictions that are ensuring she stays. And after so many years of being married into the Duggar family, the Reddit insider speculated that it would take a lot of internal work for Anna to realize how terrible her situation is and seek a means of escape.
In short, no one thinks she will ever really leave Josh, no matter how it impacts her future.
