Jill Duggar Dillard says her relationship with her parents and some of her siblings is moving in a healthy direction.
The former Counting On star recently gave fans an update on where she currently stands with her mom Michelle Duggar and dad Jim Bob, the latter of whom she has been somewhat estranged from for years. During a recent Instagram Live with her cousin Amy Duggar (as well as Amy’s husband Dillon King and Jill’s own husband Derick Dillard), Jill revealed that, after years of being shut out by many of the Duggars for speaking out against Jim Bob, she is finally mending some of those relationships.
“Right now with my family, we’re definitely in a rebuilding phase, so we do have stronger relationships with siblings and family and all of that,” Jill stated during the Live.
Jill added that she and Derick and their three children are now invited to some family events, which wasn’t the case for a very long time.
“When we get together with family, which is not just weddings and funerals for us now— there was a time where we didn’t see a lot of my family except at weddings and funerals– just because we needed time,” she said.
As The Ashley has previously reported, Jill and Derick were even banned at one point from coming to the Duggar family home when Jim Bob wasn’t present, due to Jim Bob believing that the “rebellious” couple would be a bad influence on the younger Duggar kids.
The tension between the Dillards and the Duggars presumably increased even more after the 2023 release of the couple’s tell-all book, Counting the Cost. Jill and Derick’s book recounts what the Dillards claim is the real story behind Jill’s family and their TLC shows, with many of the stories painting Jim Bob in a negative light. Jill and Derick later shared that some of Jill’s 18 siblings chose not to have a relationship with them, though they never revealed which siblings cut ties with them.
While Jill has maintained a relationship with Michelle throughout the estrangement from Jim Bob, last year she called the situation with her mother “complicated.” In January 2024, Jill stated during a podcast interview that her parents had read her book, and that she and Derick were still “on the road to figuring things out” with Ma and Pa Duggar.
Now, it seems, that Jill and Derick are a bit further down that “road” and have mended some of the relationships with the Duggars.
“It’s like [we] take a couple steps forward and then a step back [in our relationships with them],” Jill said. “[We’re] just trying to work through and work out and keeping healthy boundaries in place because that’s necessary. We are protecting our core family as we move forward.”
Jill recently attended a conference in Texas with Michelle and most of her sisters, something she called “so fun” on Instagram.
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During the Live, Amy— whose just-released book Holy Disruptor reveals some of the Duggar Family’s secrets— said that she hasn’t seen or spoken to Jim Bob and Michelle or any of Jill’s siblings in a long time.
“I don’t know what they’ve been told. I don’t know where they stand on a lot of things,” Amy said of the Duggar clan. “They don’t reach out [to me]. I don’t reach out, out of respect….I’m not going to push that boundary if you’re not willing to open that door a little bit, you know?”
In an interview this week with Us Weekly, Amy stated that she hasn’t communicated with Jim Bob or Michelle because she doesn’t approve of their support of their eldest son Josh, who is currently in prison for receiving child sex abuse materials (CSAM). Amy says that her aunt and uncle continuing to follow the Institute of Basic Life Principles (IBLP) religious cult also played a part in her cutting them off.
“I’m not going to put myself through that again,” Amy told the magazine.
Despite choosing to cut off the Duggars, Amy stated that she has never tried to sway Jill into not associating with the family.
“It’s really a good thing that [you and I] can share experiences and the craziness but still have friendship and family-ship here,” Jill said.
RELATED STORY: Jill Duggar Dillard Says She Found Out Disturbing Details About Her Grandpa Duggar Only After Reading Her Cousin Amy’s New Book
(Photos: Amazon Prime; TLC; Instagram)
3 Responses
I feel like this family has no idea how psychotic and evil they appear to people outside of their religious cult. I would be shocked if anyone actually saw them as Christians.
I think Josh Duggar should be shunned from the family permanently while all the daughters including Jill Duggar should be welcomed back with open arms. Jim Bob and Michelle Duggar should be protecting their daughters, not their perverted son.
This is exactly it. It says a lot whenever you’re willing to protect your pedophile son just because he’s a man and shun/place blame on your daughters for being taken advantage of. I hate this disgusting cult, and jimslob has already shown he sides with abusers. I wish CPS would have come in and taken all of their children away when it was proven that the family was hiding the abuse the girls suffered for years, pretty much enabling it to continue under wraps because they couldn’t accept they have a pedophile son. Just like Jimslob has a pedophile father. I’m willing to bet that’s not the only pedophiles in the family, they just choose to protect the men instead of protecting victims like a true patriarchal cult.