Nothing could have prepared Jim Bob and Michelle Duggar for the anguish of learning years ago that their oldest son, Josh, had “improperly touched some of our daughters,” they stated on Wednesday.

Josh Duggar’s parents spoke to Megyn Kelly, host of Fox News Channel’s “The Kelly File,” on Wednesday night.

Both parents pardoned their son’s actions and commended him for admitting to them that he had touched the girls improperly.

“Looking back, we did the best we could under the circumstances,” Jim Bob said of the family’s handling of the matter.

“He said he was just curious about girls and he had gone in and just basically touched them over their clothes while they were sleeping; they didn’t even know he had done it,” Jim Bob Duggar told Fox News anchor Megyn Kelly in the family’s first interview since the allegations surfaced last month.

“He was still a kid. He was still a juvenile. He wasn’t an adult,” he added. “This was not rape or anything like that. This was touching someone over their clothes.”

Josh was sent to therapy, according to Mr. and Mrs. Duggar, and he was also asked to speak with the police.

For the first time, the parents disclosed publicly that their firstborn son had abused many young girls.

Kelly also talked with two of Josh Duggar’s victims, his sisters Jessa and Jill, after the conversation, according to Fox.

Jessa Seewald stated accusations that her brother is a pedophile or child molester are “so overboard and a lie” in a statement given to media.

The Fox News interview, which was pre-recorded at the Duggars’ Arkansas home, occurred only two weeks after TLC announced that the Duggars’ reality show, “19 Kids and Counting,” would be canceled. The show chronicles the conservative Christian Duggar family, which includes Mr. and Mrs. Duggar and their 19 children.

The public’s reaction to the interview might have an impact on the family’s reputation and the show’s future.

Josh, now 27, was investigated for abusing minor females, according to an article in In Touch magazine. At least 20 corporations have distanced themselves from the show since TLC canceled it. Many advertisers have removed or are planning to remove their commercials from the show.

Josh Duggar, now 27, apologized on May 21 for his youthful “wrongdoing” after a tabloid article claimed he assaulted multiple young females. Duggar also resigned from his high-profile post with the Family Research Council’s lobbying arm in Washington.

His parents, on the other hand, had said little about the situation until Wednesday.

Jim Bob questioned why the newspaper leaks haven’t gotten more attention: “It’s been an unprecedented attack on our family,” he said on Wednesday. “And this information was released illegally. And so I’m wondering why all this press is not going after the system for releasing these juvenile records. That is a huge story.”