Jill Duggar, one of the daughters from the formerly popular TLC show 19 Kids and Counting, has confirmed a long rumored fan theory – that she doesn’t get along with her family and the situation seemingly caused her to leave the TLC show.
In a new video, she spoke about her relationship with her parents, Jim Bob and Michelle Duggar, and her 18 siblings, and admitted there is some strain. Jill and her husband Derick Dillard chose to no longer participate in the Duggar show Counting On, which sparked theories that there may be some bad blood in the family.
“Yes, there’s been some distancing there,” the 29-year-old former reality star confessed. “We’re not on the best terms with some of my family. We’ve had some disagreements and stuff, but we’re working toward healing, definitely, and restoration. We’re having to kind of just take some time and heal and just doing what’s best for our family right now and just working through it, I guess.”
“So it’s difficult, but like we’re praying and trusting God that the timeline is his and what that looks like and everything,” she added. “Definitely appreciate your prayers, but, don’t want to go into detail too much.”
She then explained why they left Counting On, saying, “We left the show three years ago because basically our family goals that we had for ourselves didn’t align with what we found out. We ended up finding out that we didn’t have as much control over our lives as it related to the show and stuff as we felt like we needed. We had to make a decision at that time to kind of put the show aside just to pursue our own goals.”
“We will not go back on the show under the circumstances that we were under at the time that we left,” Derick said. “Meaning, just as a family, we have to be able to make decisions that allow us to navigate our lives and have the information and control so that we know whether or not we can even plan anything for our lives or not.”
“We don’t regret leaving the show. We feel like it was the best thing for our family, especially at that time. And even now, there’s been other things that we’ve been grateful for — like more family time,” she added.
Jill and Derick are parents to Samuel Scott, 3, and Israel David, 5.
Derick has been the subject of a ton of controversy after making transphobic comments.