Jill Duggar is ready to open up about the strain on her relationship with her family.
After being a fixture on TLC‘s 19 Kids & Counting and the subsequent spinoff Counting On, the fourth-oldest Duggar sibling and her husband Derick Dillard quietly exited the reality TV world in 2017. And they’re just now starting to reveal what really happened.
Jill explained to People how goals she and her husband shared were shut down if they were deemed a conflict of interest with the network or family, which was too controlling for them to tolerate:
“Our control to choose what jobs we were allowed to accept and even where we were allowed to live was taken away from us.”
The father of two, who is now in his final year of law school, chimed in:
“The first few years of our marriage, we spent time and money working towards opportunities only to hit a dead end when we’d be told, ‘Well, you’re not allowed to do that.’”
But when the pair told TLC and her family about their decision to exit, no one was exactly thrilled:
“It didn’t go over very well with anyone. By that point we’d had enough. We knew we had to pull out completely to reevaluate and get our bearings.”
The network declined to comment, but Jim Bob and Michelle Duggar sent a brief statement to the outlet:
“Every family has differences of opinion and perspective at times, but families work things out. We all love Jill, Derick, and their boys very much. It is our prayer that our relationship is healed and fully restored quickly!”
Since their departure, Miz Duggar Dillard has begun to embrace her new life, without as many limitations as she was accustomed to in her childhood. She has gotten a nose piercing, wears jeans, has modeled modest swimwear, and even enjoys the occasional glass of wine or cocktail:
“Sometimes, it’s a good thing being okay with other people not being okay.”
While Israel and Samuel‘s parents want to reconcile with their loved ones, they are also hoping to tell their story first:
“We can be the ones to tell our story. I never expected this to happen or for it to get to this point. But I’m realizing I can’t put a timeline on healing. I love my family and they love me. I really just have to follow God’s lead and take it one day at a time.”
Earlier this month, the 29-year-old and her husband opened up about “distancing” from her family in a Q&A style video on their YouTube channel:
“There’s been some distancing there. We’re not on the best terms with some of my family. We’ve had some disagreements and stuff, but we’re working towards healing definitely and restoration. But we’re having to kind of just take some time and heal.”
Although she didn’t get into the exact details of their rift, Jill is keeping her trust in God through it all:
“We’re doing what’s best for our family right now and just working through it, I guess. We are praying and trusting God that like the timeline is his and what that looks like and everything. So we definitely appreciate your prayers, and we don’t want to go into detail.”
It sounds like both sides want to come to a resolution and we hope they’re able to find it!
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