Jill Duggar and her husband Derick Dillard are speaking out about their troubled relationship with her father, Jim Bob.
After the former stars of “19 Kids and Counting” and its spinoff “Counting On” walked away from their reality TV fame, they released a bombshell memoir that revealed what truly happened off-camera. Jill just shared where she stands now with her controversial dad.
When asked if the couple talked to her parents since the book “Counting the Cost” hit bookshelves, Jill thought for a second and said, “Yes.”
Jill Duggar doesn’t recall “last time” she saw dad Jim Bob due to their toxic relationship. (Getty Images/YouTube/The Unplanned Podcast)
“I didn’t like sit down and have a conversation and say ‘What do you think about the book?’” Jill laughed nervously on “The Unplanned Podcast.”
“I’ve heard that they did [read it],” she added. “I heard they… listened to it on audiobook or something. I don’t know. … They’re my parents and I’m just going to tread lightly.”
Although Jill, 32, has admitted in the past that things turned “toxic” with her dad, she pointed out that she doesn’t want to “create more controversy.”
“It’s kind of like when you get together at the holidays, and there are just certain things that you don’t… just want to bring up,” Jill explained. “It’s probably a sore subject.”
The former TLC star noted that her parents would most likely want to “sit down with a therapist” and “hash it out,” but admitted therapy sessions haven’t been successful in the past.
JILL DUGGAR CLAIMS DAD JIM BOB NEVER PAID HIS CHILDREN WHILE THEY STARRED ON ‘19 KIDS AND COUNTING’
Jill, 32, pointed out that she doesn’t want to “create more controversy” with her dad Jim Bob. (Getty Images)
“It just is not the healthiest way to go about it,” she said. “So we’re still on the road to figuring things out.”
Jill and Derick, 34, remembered it’d been more than a year since they’d seen Jim Bob and that it occurred before the release of their tell-all book in September.
The couple detailed the struggles they endured while appearing on the popular TLC shows in their book. Duggar told Fox News Digital that it’s been liberating to come clean.
Jill Duggar’s memoir “Counting the Cost” was released on Sept. 12 and details her life from early childhood to the present day. (Simon & Schuster)
“It was like ‘The Truman Show,’” Duggar recalled. “It was hard to live day to day and have a camera in my face…”
“If somebody busts their head open, it’s like, ‘This is great TV,’” she continued. “But at that moment, I just felt, ‘This is what I have to do. I have to honor my parents. I have to fall in line here.’ I didn’t really have a choice and I did not like it, but at the same time, I felt this is what I had to do to be a good daughter, to be a good Christian. I had to fulfill this role. But I wished I had more privacy. It’s still a struggle I face with.”
In September, Derick explained that Jim Bob would “weaponize” the couple’s relationship. (Getty Images)
A spokesperson for Duggar’s parents, Jim Bob and Michelle Duggar, didn’t immediately respond to Fox News Digital’s request for comment at the time. But in a statement ahead of the book’s release, they told People magazine: “As with any family, few things are more painful than conflicts or problems among those you love.… We do not believe the best way to resolve conflicts, facilitate forgiveness and reconciliation, or to communicate through difficulties is through the media or in a public forum so we will not comment.”
Duggar’s parents are devout followers of the Institute in Basic Life Principles. (Getty Images)
Duggar’s parents are devout followers of the Institute in Basic Life Principles (IBLP). The goal of IBLP is to provide others with a “clear institution and training on how to find success by following God’s principles found in Scripture.” IBLP’s website claims that “over 2.5 million people” have attended their seminars over the years.
JILL DUGGAR CLAIMS RELIGIOUS DAD JIM BOB WOULD ‘WEAPONIZE’ HER MARRIAGE
In September, Derick explained that Jim Bob would “weaponize” the couple’s relationship when they did not want to do what the former Arkansas state representative wanted for the show.
“19 Kids & Counting,” which chronicled the lives of the growing Duggar family, aired from 2008 to 2015. (D Dipasupil/Getty Images for Extra)
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“Whenever we were at odds with what her dad thought we should be doing with filming, he would say things that would be very damaging,” Derick claimed to People. “He would weaponize the relationship and say, ‘Is this you Jill, or is this you, Derick? Are you leading your wife astray and doing things that are not supportive of marriage?’ And I think that was a red flag.”
“19 Kids & Counting,” which chronicled the lives of the growing Duggar family, aired from 2008 to 2015. “Counting On,” which focused on the family’s older children, ran from 2015 to 2021.
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Fox News Digital’s Stephanie Nolasco contributed to this report.
